Help! I'm being held captive by the fear of my year and a half RIR, Ginger (aka "the bully"), and her SLW partner in crime, MaryAnn, pecking the stuffing out of our two little ones. The 2 babies (an EE and BR) went out to the coop at 6 weeks (they're 2 1/2 months now), and the 2 big girls will not stop attacking them. It's been over a month already! We've had 2 bloody beaks, which would have been worse if we didn't break it up. My question is, how long does it take to integrate? Does it ever NOT work at all? In the coop they have wire between them so they can interact without getting to each other. We let them all free-range every day and when they're in an open space there's a lot of chasing and squawking. That's normal, I know. But when the babies get anywhere near the coop, the big girls corner them and go after them viciously. The little ones scream and I can't stand it. I feel like they will never be able to share a coop together. I thought establishing the pecking order generally took a week or two, but this is showing no sign of improvement. Anyone have some helpful hints or words of encouragement?
