Hi! We haven't dealt with much aggression in the past because our flocks have been pretty stable / raised together, so I don't know whether this is too much aggression or not.
We just recently acquired some mature hens which the breeder said had been together, but a couple had been broody.
One in particular is such a bully that when she comes near, the others all stick their heads into corners, even sitting on each other 3 high to use the same corner, and won't get up until she's been gone some minutes.
It's been a week and I was hoping her behavior would improve as they settled in.
Still no one is allowed to use any of the nest boxes but her, she won't let up until they move. They have to wait for food until she's not looking, even with the feeder in a central location. She's a ferocious head pecker and one came with a minor head injury but we've been keeping an eye on her and it hasn't gotten worse, none of the other hens have any marks.
Setup is a 10x10 horse stall turned coop, with a 4 ft long, 4 ft high multi-level garden stand as a perch. Feeder and water in the middle. Run is just a fenced section of yard about 50 x 60 ft.
They've been putting themselves to bed much earlier than the other chickens in the adjoining coop, with about two hours of light left, and these late afternoon eating / perch jostling sessions is when most of the arguing occurs.
Well, then, and also during morning egg time. We've been getting eggs everywhere because only Bossy can use the nest boxes (we have tried rearranging the boxes twice so far).
Does it sound like we could do anything different / better to quell tension in this flock?
We just recently acquired some mature hens which the breeder said had been together, but a couple had been broody.
One in particular is such a bully that when she comes near, the others all stick their heads into corners, even sitting on each other 3 high to use the same corner, and won't get up until she's been gone some minutes.
It's been a week and I was hoping her behavior would improve as they settled in.
Still no one is allowed to use any of the nest boxes but her, she won't let up until they move. They have to wait for food until she's not looking, even with the feeder in a central location. She's a ferocious head pecker and one came with a minor head injury but we've been keeping an eye on her and it hasn't gotten worse, none of the other hens have any marks.
Setup is a 10x10 horse stall turned coop, with a 4 ft long, 4 ft high multi-level garden stand as a perch. Feeder and water in the middle. Run is just a fenced section of yard about 50 x 60 ft.
They've been putting themselves to bed much earlier than the other chickens in the adjoining coop, with about two hours of light left, and these late afternoon eating / perch jostling sessions is when most of the arguing occurs.
Well, then, and also during morning egg time. We've been getting eggs everywhere because only Bossy can use the nest boxes (we have tried rearranging the boxes twice so far).
Does it sound like we could do anything different / better to quell tension in this flock?
