How intense is your pecking order?

[Mother of Chaos]

It's been over a year here. There is no joy. They are miserable and I'm miserable seeing them miserable. It's heartbreaking.

 

[BDutch]

It's been over a year here. There is no joy. They are miserable and I'm miserable seeing them miserable. It's heartbreaking.

Did you read the post I wrote for @EmmaDonovan ?

Maybe there’s something you can do to change the flock dynamics and enjoy having chickens again.

Oooh.

Most of the time it helps a lot if you add;
- More indoor space and roosts: add an extra coop or make an extension to the existing coop
- More outdoor space; double the run size (each bird at least 4m2, 10m2 is even better) or let them free range.
- More places to hide (clutter, bushes).
- More feed and water stations.
- Make an auto pop door to the run so the chickens are never locked in after sunrise.

Or: Sell a few hens;
- The ones that don’t fit in behaviour.
- Sell all but one breed that is most easy going.

These are general tips. If you describe what you have know, and give lots of info about the flock and their behaviour, there might be people (educators) that can help better. Best start a new thread for it.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Did you read the post I wrote for @EmmaDonovan ?

Maybe there’s something you can do to change the flock dynamics and enjoy having chickens again.

I've started threads about it and discussed it in these forums ad nauseum.

 

[BDutch]

I've started threads about it and discussed it in these forums ad nauseum.

Sorry to hear you gave up.
You make me wonder if and what changes you made that didn’t work out for the better.
Did you try everything I suggested?
Sure there must be something that helps. If not J suppose you have some serious traumatised chickens.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Sorry to hear you gave up.
You make me wonder if and what changes you made that didn’t work out for the better.
Did you try everything I suggested?
Sure there must be something that helps. If not J suppose you have some serious traumatised chickens.

I don't want to take over @thecatumbrella's thread. I just wanted to let her know she's not alone in struggling with this.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I don't want to take over @thecatumbrella's thread. I just wanted to let her know she's not alone in struggling with this.

By all means, share more of your situation and what you tried (if you're up for it, of course).

 

[thecatumbrella]

I've started threads about it and discussed it in these forums ad nauseum.

Same. I have so many recent ones, I'm not even sure which one to update. Thanks for putting up with me, BYC.

 

[FrostRanger]

Same. I have so many recent ones, I'm not even sure which one to update. Thanks for putting up with me, BYC.

Talking about and helping people with their birds and whatnot is what we're here for

 

[BDutch]

I don't want to take over @thecatumbrella's thread. I just wanted to let her know she's not alone in struggling with this.

I replied in one your own threads, bc I (and others) need more info to give good advice.

 

[chooki]

Giving your birds a lot of more spaces and things to do will generally alleviate pecking order problems.

Once I had to confine my 5 hens in a 5 square meters coop for a few days, it's heart-wrenching watching some of the low ranking birds pecked and forced into a corner.

Nowadays I free range mine most of the times, there are multiple water stations. I either hand feed them, provide multiple feeder or spread the feed over a large area so everyone gets to eat.

The pecking order still exists, but the problems are mostly gone.

The remaining issue I have now is that the hens have their favourite nest box that they fight over, I provided multiple, they still just all want to go into that particular one.