Introducing two chickens who hate each other

[Zerex]

Do the best you can with the information you've been given. Sometimes, life throws us a surprise. We handle each one the best we can. Continue trying to integrate all the birds, just keep in mind what you want may or may not happen.
IF Sunny is a meat bird, you might try limiting the food, to keep weight down, and hopefully extend life with exercise and healthy eating, just like people fat is not good. As far as Sunnys sex-time will tell. Good luck

Thank you.

I thought lately that I should give her more food because of how much of it she wants to eat. I've had food crazy birds before but nothing like her. I didn't know that that would hinder her development. I guess I'll cut back a bit. Hopefully, the other birds will still get enough if she's trying to hog it all, though. Your advice is appreciated. If I can help extend her life I will gladly try.

 

[RevlisRemmah]

If she does end up dying in a years time then I will make sure to try and give her a happy life for as long as humanely possible. Perhaps I should spoil her.

From what I understand about meat birds, having access to food 24/7 will cause them to grow past the point their body can withstand and will cause great harm. I have read other posts where members have their meat birds eating lower protein food and end up removing it for part of the day so they don’t have constant access. That along with access to an outside area where he can move about and be active may help. It’s possible to give him a happy life but it will take work, planning and being strict with him (my chickens hate when I’m strict!)

Also, I know you want your pet chickens to be happy, and sometimes that means removing the thing that is stressing them out. Stressed birds are not happy birds, so if Snow and Sunny can’t be together, it may be the best thing for them to try to keep Sunny separated.

Another option is to create a “bachelor coop”. He can live with other males out of sight of the hens- there are quite a few articles about that on the site as well. Then the girls can live together and have some peace.

Good luck with your chickens! Keep us updated on if Sunny starts crowing!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Separating the birds will make them lonely

Where they can still see and hear each other is NOT alone..

Um... no. I would obviously know what that would mean if that would happen. I meant fighting as in Snow takes one look at Sunny and bites her hard in the back of her neck. Then Sunny backs up, puffs her feathers out and bites back. Then they chase each other around the coop trying to kill one another and draw blood. Is that mating?

It's pecking order.. Sunny is demanding submission and Snow is not willing to submit.. as Sunny hasn't earned HIS right to mate or run the roost yet.

With him being the SAME age as the red.. LOOK at his wattled and comb.. That's a cockerel friends no matter HOW you slice it..

I'm sorry you didn't feel my suggestion was a means of eventual integration.. It WAS.. Cockerel are hormonal idiots.. time to mature and learn how to control his impulses.. learn how to treat call and sweet talk the ladies from the other side of the fence.. Mature roosters, are MUCH different.

As stated by Mrs K.. he will be much warmer even as an individual due to his body type...

They are still together, communicating and such even with a wire wall. Think outside the box instead of going on PETA worthy thought trains.

 

[Zerex]

From what I understand about meat birds, having access to food 24/7 will cause them to grow past the point their body can withstand and will cause great harm. I have read other posts where members have their meat birds eating lower protein food and end up removing it for part of the day so they don’t have constant access. That along with access to an outside area where he can move about and be active may help. It’s possible to give him a happy life but it will take work, planning and being strict with him (my chickens hate when I’m strict!)

Also, I know you want your pet chickens to be happy, and sometimes that means removing the thing that is stressing them out. Stressed birds are not happy birds, so if Snow and Sunny can’t be together, it may be the best thing for them to try to keep Sunny separated.

Another option is to create a “bachelor coop”. He can live with other males out of sight of the hens- there are quite a few articles about that on the site as well. Then the girls can live together and have some peace.

Good luck with your chickens! Keep us updated on if Sunny starts crowing!

That's good to know. I thought she might actually need more food. I didn't know it could be detrimental. I will have to look into that.

I don't want to get more birds, though. I like small flocks. It already hurts that chickens have such short lifespans as is. I would like them all to get along if at all possible. So I'm going to go that route first. There might be things I can still fix and help.

I will ALSO give an update if Sunny lays an egg. She already has been giving me signs such as squatting and submissive behavior when I pet her. Normally my chickens do that when they become egg-bearing age. I'd honestly be surprised if a rooster EVER does that. It just wouldn't make sense.

Sunny has never tried to mount Snow. This all started because whenever Snow sees Sunny face-to-face she freaks out and pecks at her as hard as she can because of Sunny's enormous looking build. She has given me no signs that she is a rooster so far.

Also, I don't know anything about bachelor coops. Do roosters actually get along with each other? I thought all roosters fought each other.

 

[RevlisRemmah]

I will ALSO give an update if Sunny lays an egg.

Great! I’d love to see it! My girls are all 21 weeks today and I haven’t gotten an egg and not one is squatting so I’m living vicariously through other people’s pullet eggs until mine start coming!

Also, I don't know anything about bachelor coops. Do roosters actually get along with each other? I thought all roosters fought each other.

I hadn’t heard of them until joining this site. Apparently if they are put of view of females, many roosters can live together in relative harmony. They will still have a pecking order, but there aren’t mates to fight over so it changes the game. There’s a user in MI (I can’t recall her username) who has a large bachelor flock and takes in lots of re-homed gentlemen. If I could afford to build another coop I quite like the idea. Roosters are so handsome!!

 

[Zerex]

Where they can still see and hear each other is NOT alone..


It's pecking order.. Sunny is demanding submission and Snow is not willing to submit.. as Sunny hasn't earned HIS right to mate or run the roost yet.

With him being the SAME age as the red.. LOOK at his wattled and comb.. That's a cockerel friends no matter HOW you slice it..
View attachment 2388592

I'm sorry you didn't feel my suggestion was a means of eventual integration.. It WAS.. Cockerel are hormonal idiots.. time to mature and learn how to control his impulses.. learn how to treat call and sweet talk the ladies from the other side of the fence.. Mature roosters, are MUCH different.

As stated by Mrs K.. he will be much warmer even as an individual due to his body type...

They are still together, communicating and such even with a wire wall. Think outside the box instead of going on PETA worthy thought trains.

Are you sure? So far all of this has started with Snow demanding submission from Sunny, not the other way around. Sunny is only scared because she's a chick. Snow demands blood from her because of her enormous build, that's the way it appears to me.

And I know that rooster feathers look different, but it's much easier to ascertain on older chickens than chicks. I'll look her over in the morning. Because Sunny is a different breed of chicken than Happy I am not sure if size has anything to do with gender. Only time will tell me for sure whether or not Sunny is of male or female variety and I will love her or him regardless of that outcome. I have bonded with my chickens, as I always do.

That's good to know. So far I've been keeping them separated through a wire mesh and it hasn't been working so I was afraid that it wasn't working. If she does end up being a rooster then it's good to know that Sunny will calm down with age. Thank you.

I wasn't just worried about the cold, although that was a factor. I thought removing Sunny from Happy would make the two of them sad because they bonded and were together all of this time. But the problem is that Snow is sad, too, having lost her two other flock mates in a very short amount of time. That's why I'm stressed. Because I want all three of them to be happy and am not entirely sure how to do that. It'll all work out eventually. I know that they will still be able to see and hear each other. That's why I thought of the wire mesh system in the first place to integrate the chicks to my hens. I just would like it to be a temporary solution.

Not sure if I would qualify as PETA or anything. I raise chickens as pets but I'm not a vegetarian or vegan. Can't eat chickens anymore, though, since I've started raising them I see them as cats and dogs now and it's just too weird.

 

[Zerex]

Great! I’d love to see it! My girls are all 21 weeks today and I haven’t gotten an egg and not one is squatting so I’m living vicariously through other people’s pullet eggs until mine start coming!




I hadn’t heard of them until joining this site. Apparently if they are put of view of females, many roosters can live together in relative harmony. They will still have a pecking order, but there aren’t mates to fight over so it changes the game. There’s a user in MI (I can’t recall her username) who has a large bachelor flock and takes in lots of re-homed gentlemen. If I could afford to build another coop I quite like the idea. Roosters are so handsome!!

That actually is a big relief. I was worried that if she does turn out to be a rooster she will live a very lonely life because I'll have to keep her separated. I didn't know that roosters could get along. I'll have to look into that more.

 

[jus10inla]

3 months old is not a chick... no offense OP but how old are you ? Judginy by your posts i would say high school age. You have some very experienced ppl telling you you have a cockerel / rooster and a meat bird. Its not going to survive with your normal birds. Sorry. Just the cold truth and part of chicken raising.

 

[Zerex]

3 months old is not a chick... no offense OP but how old are you ? Judginy by your posts i would say high school age. You have some very experienced ppl telling you you have a cockerel / rooster and a meat bird. Its not going to survive with your normal birds. Sorry. Just the cold truth and part of chicken raising.

I am 26. A chick is a chick to me until they start producing eggs or I guess in a rooster's case, start crowing. I say this because they are my pets. I would call a kitten a kitten until they become one. Who cares?

I can raise whatever type of chicken that I want. I don't care if one of my chickens is a meat bird. I will give her a good life or as good of life as I can. I also don't care about gender.

No offense but your post tells me that YOU sound like you are of high school age.

Honestly, how does me being of high school age even make sense? If you read my posts I clearly state that I've raised chickens for a number of years. If I was high school age that would only make sense if I started when I was around ten.

 

[jus10inla]

Not turning this into pissing match. Js im old enough to be your dad. But everyone has given u advice wether good or bad and you dont want to accept / shun any negative given your way. Your not having a very open mind. U have to take the bad with the good if your gona be online.. were not saying u cant raise whatever you want. But there are consequences and were leting you know from either first hand experience or knowledge from the field long time how its going to affect your other birds or this one if kept in general population