I got this 1 year-old hen in the spring, as a friend for my lone bantam Wyandotte. When I got her new buddy, I also picked up two 8 week-old pullets and a 4 year-old Silkie hen. Integration went well. Sadly my bantam Wyandotte fell ill and, no matter what I tried, she never got better, so she is no longer a part of the flock.
Fast forward a few months: my Silkie hen went broody, so I decided to give her some hatching eggs, which have since hatched. When I picked up the hatching eggs I wound up coming home with two more 8 week-old pullets and a three year-old BSL hen (who by the way is an awesome layer and a real sweetheart!). The hatch-lings and broody mama are in a separate broody coop in a sectioned off area of the run, so not part of the flock at night, but visible to the rest of the flock during the day.
My problem is this. the hen I brought in as a friend to my original hen has turned mean to all her flock mates. After my Silkie hen went broody, there hadn't been anyone keeping her in line (my Silkie was head hen). This hen isn't top of the pecking order now either, as far as I can tell she's still second in line after my BSL hen, but she is getting more nasty towards the others with every passing day. And for no good reason; she just likes seek them out and bully them. Just for fun. The only one she doesn't harass is my BSL, but that's only because she's so much bigger than her.
I found out after I got her that her breed is best suited to a free-range environment, since they are excellent foragers.We live in a subdivision of the outskirts of a village, so we have neighbours. The coop is a reasonable size size and the run is quite large. Although our property is about 1/2 acre, it's not fenced in, so the girls only get supervised outings in the yard a few times a week. I also found out that they have a reputation for being a noisy breed. Did I mention we have neighbours? They're great neighbours, and we would like them to NOT get fed up with the noise level this hen generates. Frankly, I'd rather listen to a rooster than this hen's complaints - I find crowing is much less shrill and annoying.
At night when it's time to roost, she won't let ANYONE on the top roost bar with her, even though there's oodles of space. Tow of my older pullets wind up sitting with Twyla (my BSL) on a small angled roost in the corner and Mean Girl won't even let the youngest ones on any rung of the main ladder roost either. They usually wind up on a smaller auxiliary roost against the opposite wall.
And to add insult to injury, she has decided to reduce the already low number of eggs she lays: she has gone from laying 3-4 eggs a week to 2. Thank goodness for Twyla, or I'd have a coop full of chickens and two eggs a week!
Anyway, I would really REALLY appreciate some suggestions on how to modify this Mean Girl's behaviour, because if I can't, I will have no choice but to try to find her another home.
Fast forward a few months: my Silkie hen went broody, so I decided to give her some hatching eggs, which have since hatched. When I picked up the hatching eggs I wound up coming home with two more 8 week-old pullets and a three year-old BSL hen (who by the way is an awesome layer and a real sweetheart!). The hatch-lings and broody mama are in a separate broody coop in a sectioned off area of the run, so not part of the flock at night, but visible to the rest of the flock during the day.
My problem is this. the hen I brought in as a friend to my original hen has turned mean to all her flock mates. After my Silkie hen went broody, there hadn't been anyone keeping her in line (my Silkie was head hen). This hen isn't top of the pecking order now either, as far as I can tell she's still second in line after my BSL hen, but she is getting more nasty towards the others with every passing day. And for no good reason; she just likes seek them out and bully them. Just for fun. The only one she doesn't harass is my BSL, but that's only because she's so much bigger than her.
I found out after I got her that her breed is best suited to a free-range environment, since they are excellent foragers.We live in a subdivision of the outskirts of a village, so we have neighbours. The coop is a reasonable size size and the run is quite large. Although our property is about 1/2 acre, it's not fenced in, so the girls only get supervised outings in the yard a few times a week. I also found out that they have a reputation for being a noisy breed. Did I mention we have neighbours? They're great neighbours, and we would like them to NOT get fed up with the noise level this hen generates. Frankly, I'd rather listen to a rooster than this hen's complaints - I find crowing is much less shrill and annoying.
At night when it's time to roost, she won't let ANYONE on the top roost bar with her, even though there's oodles of space. Tow of my older pullets wind up sitting with Twyla (my BSL) on a small angled roost in the corner and Mean Girl won't even let the youngest ones on any rung of the main ladder roost either. They usually wind up on a smaller auxiliary roost against the opposite wall.
And to add insult to injury, she has decided to reduce the already low number of eggs she lays: she has gone from laying 3-4 eggs a week to 2. Thank goodness for Twyla, or I'd have a coop full of chickens and two eggs a week!
Anyway, I would really REALLY appreciate some suggestions on how to modify this Mean Girl's behaviour, because if I can't, I will have no choice but to try to find her another home.
I separated Lilly a olive egger after she had her head pecked open severely and I then realized how skinny she was. The others were not letting her eat I was so mad! I moved her to the chicken hospital that backs up to my oldest flock's run for a week. One evening when she was waiting for all the meanies to go in( I was still letting her roost with the flock at night) one actually came off the roost and cornered her and pecked the head open again. I removed the 2 that I thought were the ring leaders only to discover that the others had learned the same behavior and started in on her. I knew that I had to get her out of there so that night I put her in a cage in the coop of oldest flock and let her out in the morning and they thought nothing of her....they had been looking at her for a week anyway. I am so happy to report that they have accepted her and she is roosting in that coop and laying eggs only after 4 days. What a happy ending to what was really a upsetting situation. There is other options than soup!!!!! Maybe this helps someone else.
