- Jun 18, 2013
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Hi all, I seem to talk chicken non stop to friends who are getting a bit bored of my chicken talk so thought I would join BYC where similar minded people hang out. I live just outside London UK, and have two reds who are about three yrs old and just recently added two Suffolk Whites who are only 20 weeks old. The addition of the two whites have given me non stop problems and sleepless nights. I don't seem to have the answers and feel as though I sort one problem out and another occurs,I wonder if I did the right thing in adding the two new whites. The reds have attacked the two whites since day one, quite violently, I ended up have to split them up hoping i could introduce them gradually. One red seems to be the worse and one white seems to get the worse attacks. This white which I have had for just over two weeks was laying small eggs when I got her. Over the last four or five days I noticed she was a bit subdued, and her toilets started to get loose. She then stopped laying and yesterday tried three times in the nest box to lay and eventually produced a soft egg on the lawn. I hoped she would be okay today and she looked lively enough early on but again is struggling to lay and I suspect she is doing the same. Is this normal? and will it sort itself out. I have read that a hen being bullied could be stressed and lay a soft egg. Should I keep her away from the reds for a while so she gets more relaxed? She will not try and eat if the reds are anywhere near the food. The other white is fine and a bit more confident on standing up for itself. It's really stressing me out, I am not experienced enough to know what to do, I know there is a pecking order, but after two weeks I thought it would have been sorted by now but I feel sorry for my young bullied white, what can I do, any of you with experience advise would be welcome. Stressed chicken keeper London.
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