Hard questions about feral hen/runt chick

[Futuregreenefarm]

I've had chickens less than a year and all the chickens I have are from the same hen who is pretty much feral. She hatched chicks in the spring which I keep and got down to 3 pullets. Then she left. She hatched 5 more this fall and I have tired to keep her and the chicks with my 3 original pullets. She is a loner pretty much, only taking to a cockerel, her own, that treats her respectively. He is however mating the older pullets. This causes problems with the hen and the pullets which have always brickered anyways. Now the hen is pushing the other chicks away which are 18 weeks now and mostly grown except one that was an obvious runt and now half the size of all the other chickens. They all push her around, the tiny one. As much as I want to give this hen a home, I have tried for weeks now to handle the pecking. They all seem to bicker but the feral hen who has stayed now and sleeps in the house pecks everyone. I haven't seen blood but it upsets me to see them bickering all the time. And how they all pick on the smaller pullet. I need to make some hard decisions. Should I try to re-home the hen? She probably won't do good with any other flock either. And should I try to keep the runt separate for awhile and risk reintegration later or leave her and see if it gets better if I am able to re-home the hen?

 

[Wezdin]

I would separate the feral hen if she is being excessively mean. Is the runt healthy other than being small? If you don't want to separate any of them i would put some pinless peepers on the troublemakers.

 

[Wezdin]

Now the hen is pushing the other chicks away which are 18 weeks now

That is normal, Are you sure that the chicks are all the same age and that one isn't younger?

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

Thank you for answering. I am sad to say though that I am not able to handle them much at all. The bad side of the hen hatching/raising them was training them to fear me/people. I have tried to work with them and some of the older ones are better but I have no hope of ever handling the hen. I think I might just need to separate her and see if things get better. But I don't have room to separate any more then one. I'm just afraid I won't be able to re-home her with her being so difficult.
Yes, I'm sure they are the same age. She hatched under my porch where I could see then and all 5 have been together with me since then including the mom. She was okay at first but seems to be worse now that they are older and as I said, the cockerel is mating the older pullets.

 

[aart]

Are you providing coop and run for these birds,
or are they totally 'free-range'(and thus really still feral)?

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

They have 2 coops and a shared run. A prefab and a homemade A-frame. The run is almost 100 foot area with a big low hanging bush they love for cover and trees over head, bare now though. The original 3 pullets sleep in the prefab and the hen and 5 young ones sleep in the A-frame. It isn't huge but has 2 roosting bars the same height. I let them in the run daily but only occasional free range. The hen has flown out before and came back wanting in the run area. She seems "homed in" but seems to want to keep all the others away from her, the only exception is the cockerel. If she just ran them off from food it would be one thing but she is constantly pecking someone, anyone who is near her at all. No exceptions other than the boy. She lets them all go into the house at night and then proceeds to go last (besides the boy) and then pecks everyone out of her way to get to the spot she wants and if they don't move, she is relentless. Some run out. Some I hear hollaring. Sometimes I hear them hit the side. It's more chicken drama than I can take, sorry if that's wimpy but I don't want fighting. I understand the pecking order but this I think is more than that. Does anyone else feel this is excessive?

 

[aart]

If shes constantly after most the other birds, yes, that's excessive.
RoostTimeRumbles are not unusual and can be chaotic especially if there's a shortage of space and roost length and there are junior birds.
Are any of the younger birds laying?
Once younger birds are laying then they make their way into the 'main' pecking order.

 

[Diana_burns04]

What does she look like??

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

What does she look like??

Are you interested? Where are you located?
She is a mix. Pls know I created this thread because she doesn't appear to get along with others well :/
However she lays well, hatches if you let her and raises well. She just doesn't want to keep them or stay around them later on it seems.