Having behavior problems

[rbum]

I have a Rhode Island Red about 1 year old now. The other three were killed by dogs in the neighborhood.She has been in a large chicken tractor by herself since last one was killed about 3 months ago. I bought 2 barred rock chicks 4 months ago and i slowly introduced them while babies were in a large cage. The Red will peck at them sometimes after I would put them in a run without the cage but nothing serious. Thought they may be fine to put the babies in the coop tonight but the Red pecked one so badly she got a cut above the beak and the Red was clacking so much I removed the babies and let her settle down. What can be done if anything short of building another coop? Or is that my own option. The Red is the Queen and I guess she will always be. One of the Barred Rocks likes to be in charge and takes her on head to head even though she is half her size.

 

[krista74]

I used to segregate my chicks from the main flock in the coop by putting in mesh fencing. I would leave a gap so that the babies could run to safety in 'their' area. They are now the same size as the rest of the flock and are slowly starting to mingle with them. If there is ever a sign of aggression though they run straight back to their safe zone! Try and provide plenty of spots where they can hide and get away if needs be.

Supervised visitation might help for a period of time until they get used to each other too. You could also try free ranging them with a fence dividing them. That way they can see each other but not actually touch. If this is done for several weeks I suspect once the fence is removed they should integrate well. It's just one of those things that takes time.

Krista

 

[rbum]

Thanks for the info. I have been putting them together in the runner for many weeks now. I guess I will have to give more time for them to grow more.