I have a Mean Hen that is only mean to other hens and won't let any hens in that side of that coop!

[ChickenLover WI]

May I ask for help! What to do with My hen that hates other hens? This is what happened I have very loving chickens besides my Easter chicken she is 1 years old. She tried to kill my 3 buffs hens and my black star hen that are 16 weeks old going on 17 weeks old. I really don't no why the buffs and black star and Easter chicken all came from same place where this guy sold them to me. The guy would not tell me why he was selling the 1 year old hen! I thought he just had to many chickens. The Easter hen is nice to people but not other chickens. I might have to just find her a home maybe. I just wanted to be able to have eggs while waiting for my others to lay. I have never seen a hen so made before and she acted like a huge mean turkey gone mad pecking and pulling out feathers and scratching and driving at the girls. The Easter hen puffed her chest out and ruffled all her feathers out and started attacking all of my buffs and black star. They were screaming in fear and jumped onto me asking me to take them out of there. My poor girls were so scared. I felt so bad and wanted to cry that she wanted to hurt them so bad. I was told by everyone to let them try them together and see how they act with each other and that they may peck a little at first and be done but is was nothing like that sort she wanted them dead. So my Easter hen is back in her own coop all by herself again. She won this fight I guess.What should I do? Get rid of her I can't have her think she can have that whole coop building to herself. My coop has 2 sides to it. Baby's On the other side with the buffs and black star. I just wanted to put the buffs and black star with the 1 year old hen because they are going to start laying in soon as well and get used to that side of the coop. Any ideas would be great please!!!!!!!

 

[chicmom]

Here's what's happening. The older hen wants to establish that she is the one in charge. Unfortunately, this is natural behavior for a chicken. And it does look scary at first, but believe it or not, they will settle down, but first there is a pecking order that needs to be established.

Believe me, I've seen this before, and it does get upsetting to watch. I've put new hens in with my original flock and they've had terror in their eyes and flapped and flew all over the place, being chased by the established flock. It does seem cruel, but it's the nature of the beast.

It'll take some time, but believe me, things will settle down, you'll just have to put them together.
A friend gave me some advice. He said "Put them together, and then get away from the coop and don't watch."

Good luck to you and if you can't handle the integration, maybe you should re-home the new hen, but this is something that you'll have to deal with every time you get a new chicken......

Hugs to you and, remember, it's going to get rough in there, but it WILL settle down.

Sharon

 

[ChickenLover WI]

Well I did what you said put them in there and walked away it went a little better this time putting them back in there. They are scared of her in there and are on other side in corner. No dead chickens though which is very good. This was a first to me ever doing this so I really didn't no what to expect. So thank you so much for the help. I hope they will all get used to each other and not be scared and just be friends.