Ok so today I bought 2 6 month old bantam Cochins to go with my other bantam breed chicks. One bantam cochin was chasing all the others around and pecking/pulling at their feathes when I put it with them. Later that day (like 2 hours later) she laid an egg. Could the aggression have been caused by the fact that she was gonna lay an egg or was it the pecking order or even just aggretion?? What do you think? If you have any questions please ask! I need answer so they can soon live together happily!
The problem, by the sounds of it, is that you've taken young adults from another place and instantly thrown them into the main flock. This is very stressful for all of them and can cause injuries and deaths. This is not the normal pecking order, this is emergency situation social stabilizing. It's more violent almost as a rule. Nobody knows anybody, they're all strangers, and around puberty at that, so it's all stressful and disorganized. The most aggressive will win.
This sort of situation you don't make with pretty much any species unless you want to cause fights and violence that otherwise may never happen. It's actually basically how you 'bait' or engineer the situation to cause excessive violence. Even with fish, you don't often just throw them in together, you let them see one another for a little while first, to reduce risk of violence if they're a territorial species. All our livestock and pets are territorial, to some extent or another, either in all or at least some situations.
During that restrained introductory period, they communicate with body language, and via distance sort out their hierarchy, and almost all conflict is avoided due to this by the time you release them into the general population. If they never had the chance, they will then have to fight everyone, even those individuals who aren't challenging them and who would never have chosen to compete for alpha spot.
Generally the rule of thumb is that you allow hens at least a week to see one another from behind mesh, so they can get used to one another without being able to harm one another, and roosters around 4 days. (A week is fine for roosters too but since they bond more to the hens than the location, and hens bond more to the location than the roos, a lesser time period works as well). I should say, my roosters are exceptionally nonviolent, so if I were you I'd take longer if you're not sure of how peaceful either party is. Their body language behind bars so to speak demonstrates their intentions.
As you know, due to the egg being laid, these are not chicks any more. They're young adults. The risk of greater violence is present due to this being the final stretch wherein wannabe alpha pullets and alpha cockerels seriously test their credentials before adulthood. There will be some minor fights in adulthood too but this is the time when they test everyone and everything, like teenagers. Because that's basically what they are right now.
They may settle down the way they are but it may be wiser to remove them, and keep the newbies separate for about a week, where they can see the others and the others can see them. Allow a natural introduction. Forcing animals into other animals' territories or personal spaces is asking for violence, it's forcing them to be as rude and confrontational as possible whether or not they wanted to be so disrespectful. I knew one young girl who though the best way to introduce dogs and cats that didn't know one another, was to sit down, grab both around the necks, and jam their faces together on her lap! Amazingly she was not mauled or wounded but I quickly put a stop to that. Some situations are pro-violence no matter the intentions behind it.
Best wishes with yours. Hope things work out. Sometimes getting off to a bad start permanently taints the relationships, but they are only young still, so there's hope.
