If my rooster or one of the hens is picking on one of the other chickens for no apparent reason (to me), is it bad for me to shoe them away from the "victim"??? I have a hard time not doing anything! We have silkies and cochins and one LF. The LF is a rooster and picks on them here and there, but nothing bad (I don't think), but I still hate to watch it! One of the cochins picks on the silkies too, but never to where there was blood... So, I'm just wondering if I can shoe them away when said "peckings" begin? Or to turn my head and walk away??? TIA!
I am very curious what others say. I have new additions to my small flock, and they tend to pick on "my" girls. I do give a quick shout at them and shoe them away. But I also wonder what is best, they DO need to establish the pecking order...I guess I usually think of myself as the mother hen and feel its my duty to put others in their place.
I guess i think of it like this. A good rooster will keep conflicts from getting too heated and protect picked-on chickens. So, based on that, i would say it's ok. As long as you do keep in mind that they do have to establish pecking order and that what appears to us as picking is often just communication.
I don't know but I currently have 4 roos and 4 BO pullets together (they are all about 5 wks) and I removed one of the roos to time out over night for bad behavior. Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not but at least the BO got a good night's sleep! LOL!
I do intervene when it seems to me that things have gone too far. Pecking, or chasing a few feet? Nope. Relentless harrassment? Yup. I'll take the offender out of the flock for a few hours, and if that doesn't work, for longer periods. I've discovered that when I point my finger at a hen and go "nyet!" it chastens her. We have a favorite hen who has this summer risen from a somewhat lowly position on the pecking order to become top hen. I wonder if our favoritism was a factor in her triumph? There's also one chick this summer who has stolen our hearts because she enjoys being petted, and I've noticed she's becoming bolder with the other chickens.
If there's no serious damage being done, intervention isn't needed. But it's not going to hurt anything (upset the balance or whatever) if you DO intervene. I have one snippy hen (2nd in command) who is like a Natzi with two of my lower girls. I will say "no" and lightly peck at her with my finger when she's being mean to one of them, kind of like my lead hen will do when the little B is picking on lead hen's buddy. And she knows what it means, because I only have to do it once while I'm there. Of course the minute I'm gone and she wants something they have (even if it's just the patch of grass they're on), she'll do it again.
