Grumpy girls!

[acarter26]

I have 11 RIR and 4 white leghorn hens. They are 4 months old and are getting to close to laying eggs. Once the hens start laying, do they mellow out?

 

[wannabchick]

Mmmn, what do u mean? By grumpy..if they are all around 4 months..their all just working out the pecking order. But if a couple are super aggressive to all the others, sometimes u must separate and then place back in..so they are no longer the top dogs so to speak.

But I wasn't sure what u mean by grumpy?
Xoxo

 

[pgpoultry]

Leghorns do tend to be a bit flighty and feisty....so may be the breed.

 

[acarter26]

We had one of our RIR hens, who's also the runt, who got really sick and i took to the vet about 2 weeks ago and we kept her inside until she finished her meds. Once she was well enough to go back out, we put her back in with the other girls in the coop. As soon as we left the pen, the other hens started to chase her and peck at her. I understand the pecking order thing but to constantly chase the runt and peck at her was a little unsettling. Needless to say, we took her back out. What im hoping is that once the hens start laying they will mellow out a little and we can put the little on back in. Is this possible?

 

[galanie]

Well, they do mellow some once they start laying but I doubt they'd do so enough to not pick on the little one at all. Try putting her in a cage or enclosure where they can all see each other for a few days first. They'll still do the pecking order thing but that tends to make it not as bad.

 

[acarter26]

We'll give it a try. Hopefully it works out! Thanks for the input

 

[luvinrunnin]

Also, I have heard to put the outcast chicken back in the coop at night while they are all sleeping.