I just “inherited” 5 chickens

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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
I wouldn't be too quick to invite the three higher ranking girls to dinner. They need more space. That is what is causing the conflict. As suggested, if you take a day to expand the run, even temporarily, it will go a long way towards eliminating excess aggression as the lower ranking members will have enough space to get out of the way of the more dominant birds.
 
BlueBaby said:
Hello, and welcome! Glad that you joined! When it come's to chicken's, always build bigger with more space than you think that you will need, and build strong to prevent predator's from being able to get in to get them!
Click to expand...

@BlueBaby is correct, overbuild. The more space they have, the less issues you will have. Especially since you already have 3 mean ones.

A quick rule of thumb.

4 square feet per bird in the coop. If I have this right you have 5 hens, so that would be 20 square feet minimum for the coop, not counting the nesting boxes.

For the run you should have 10 square feet per bird, so 50 square feet for your flock. Please consider human access to the run and coop as well. I built my run so that I can pretty much stand in it.

I would expand/ build the run first. They will spend the most of their time in the run.

Also consider vertical space. Giving hens the ability to get up gives them another way to avoid a bully. I have a chair and a hay bale in my run for them to hop up onto.
 
BY Bob said:
@BlueBaby is correct, overbuild. The more space they have, the less issues you will have. Especially since you already have 3 mean ones.

A quick rule of thumb.

4 square feet per bird in the coop. If I have this right you have 5 hens, so that would be 20 square feet minimum for the coop, not counting the nesting boxes.

For the run you should have 10 square feet per bird, so 50 square feet for your flock. Please consider human access to the run and coop as well. I built my run so that I can pretty much stand in it.

I would expand/ build the run first. They will spend the most of their time in the run.

Also consider vertical space. Giving hens the ability to get up gives them another way to avoid a bully. I have a chair and a hay bale in my run for them to hop up onto.
Click to expand...

One more quick thing, more than 1 feeding and watering station. That will keep a bully from controlling the food and water intake of the others.
 
:frow:welcome
It’s nice having chickens, and soon you will have everything sorted out, and be able to truly enjoy them. If nothing else, at least you can have eggs to eat while you’re busy getting the house in order.
We look forward to seeing your flock, additions to the coop and run, more chickens and other animals!
 

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