Rose the Legbar
Songster
This is a lot of words and sounds like a essay, but I tried to document everything so I can see if I did anything wrong and how to fix it.
I have 2 adult hens. Both a bit over a year old. I am trying to integrate my 8 week old chicks but it has been going very poorly from what little I know. The chick’s breeds are Favorelles and a Easter egger.
The chicks have been in part of the adults run for 4 weeks now. I closed off a good chunk of their run to make room for my 3 new babies. I have opened the door to the little girl’s space so they can go through and watched what they did. My Legbar hen, Astrid, doesn’t really care about what the chicks do. She only gets mad if they are near her while drinking or eating (from the chick’s food and waterers of course). Otherwise, Astrid doesn’t care what they do.
However, my Wyandotte, Diamond, is the complete opposite. She will chase and bite the back of the heads of my chicks when they are brave enough to step out of their area. She will chase them and pin them against a wall and peck at them. I’ve had to intervene a lot with her and shove her away, then scooping up the chick. But the most interesting thing is that Diamond is extremely gentle and when eating things from my hand, she doesn’t peck very hard.
Today, Diamond was on my lap, falling asleep like she normally does. Astrid was on the ground near the door of the chick’s run where I propped it open. One of my chicks came out and waddled her way over to the furthest place from the door on the opposite side of the run. Diamond woke up and tried to get up while staring down the chick. I kept her in my lap and she stopped fighting and was falling asleep again. The chick was over by the back for a bit while my two hens were by me. I then let Diamond jump down and she full sprinted to the chick and chased her, biting the poor things tail she tried to run back. The chick escaped back into her run. The chick ran onto a stump and stood there. Astrid came over and looked at the chick’s feathered feet and gently pecked at it. The chick got scared, jumped off, and ran into her run. Astrid didn’t follow the chick.
A few minutes later before I was ready to close up the door and go in, my most sweet chick, Pueo, came out and hopped on my lap. The thing about Pueo as that when she was around 5 to 6 weeks old she would bolt out the door and Diamond would beat her up, pecking at the back of her head and pulled out feathers before I was able to grab Pueo and not so gently shove Diamond back with my foot. Diamond tried to jump and grab Pueo from my hand when that happened.
So Pueo jumped off my lap and Diamond saw her and locked her eyes on her. Pueo didn’t see her so she just walked back into the corner where it is harder for me to get to. Diamond chased her and Pueo started screaming and flapping like a mad man. I couldn’t get to Diamond fast enough before she pulled a few feathers. I dragged Diamond back grabbing her tail (I know I probably shouldn’t have done this but I was panicking) and threw her in the coop, shutting the door. Astrid than came over, drawn in by this still screaming and flapping chick and started aggressively pecking the poor chick’s back. I yelled at Astrid and tried to grab Pueo, but the chick was freaking out and I couldn’t hold her. So I grabbed Astrid’s tail and shoved her into the coop as well, closing the door again. I went over and picked up the still flailing Pueo and looked her over for any blood. Thankfully I saw none so I put her back into her side of the run.
I went over and opened the coop door and both hens tried to get out. Astrid pecked me pretty hard so I kept ”pecking” back on her beak. That happened a few times and she kicked me once until she stopped and stared at me with her chest puffed out. I then let both girls out.
Did I do anything wrong in these interaction? I really need help with this as it’s my first time and I get scared for the little ones. I’ve never seen Astrid do anything like that EVER. And I’ve let her specifically in the chick’s run to see how she does. Every time she never even batted a eye at them, what changed? Was it because of Pueo being so frantic that it drew her attention? I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want them to interact again until 12 weeks when they are bigger and hopefully can stand up for themselves.
Later today I am thinking of adding tons of pine tree branches in both runs to keep them busy. I’ve been doing that for a while but I didn’t add any new branches in this interaction which was stupid of me.
I have 2 adult hens. Both a bit over a year old. I am trying to integrate my 8 week old chicks but it has been going very poorly from what little I know. The chick’s breeds are Favorelles and a Easter egger.
The chicks have been in part of the adults run for 4 weeks now. I closed off a good chunk of their run to make room for my 3 new babies. I have opened the door to the little girl’s space so they can go through and watched what they did. My Legbar hen, Astrid, doesn’t really care about what the chicks do. She only gets mad if they are near her while drinking or eating (from the chick’s food and waterers of course). Otherwise, Astrid doesn’t care what they do.
However, my Wyandotte, Diamond, is the complete opposite. She will chase and bite the back of the heads of my chicks when they are brave enough to step out of their area. She will chase them and pin them against a wall and peck at them. I’ve had to intervene a lot with her and shove her away, then scooping up the chick. But the most interesting thing is that Diamond is extremely gentle and when eating things from my hand, she doesn’t peck very hard.
Today, Diamond was on my lap, falling asleep like she normally does. Astrid was on the ground near the door of the chick’s run where I propped it open. One of my chicks came out and waddled her way over to the furthest place from the door on the opposite side of the run. Diamond woke up and tried to get up while staring down the chick. I kept her in my lap and she stopped fighting and was falling asleep again. The chick was over by the back for a bit while my two hens were by me. I then let Diamond jump down and she full sprinted to the chick and chased her, biting the poor things tail she tried to run back. The chick escaped back into her run. The chick ran onto a stump and stood there. Astrid came over and looked at the chick’s feathered feet and gently pecked at it. The chick got scared, jumped off, and ran into her run. Astrid didn’t follow the chick.
A few minutes later before I was ready to close up the door and go in, my most sweet chick, Pueo, came out and hopped on my lap. The thing about Pueo as that when she was around 5 to 6 weeks old she would bolt out the door and Diamond would beat her up, pecking at the back of her head and pulled out feathers before I was able to grab Pueo and not so gently shove Diamond back with my foot. Diamond tried to jump and grab Pueo from my hand when that happened.
So Pueo jumped off my lap and Diamond saw her and locked her eyes on her. Pueo didn’t see her so she just walked back into the corner where it is harder for me to get to. Diamond chased her and Pueo started screaming and flapping like a mad man. I couldn’t get to Diamond fast enough before she pulled a few feathers. I dragged Diamond back grabbing her tail (I know I probably shouldn’t have done this but I was panicking) and threw her in the coop, shutting the door. Astrid than came over, drawn in by this still screaming and flapping chick and started aggressively pecking the poor chick’s back. I yelled at Astrid and tried to grab Pueo, but the chick was freaking out and I couldn’t hold her. So I grabbed Astrid’s tail and shoved her into the coop as well, closing the door again. I went over and picked up the still flailing Pueo and looked her over for any blood. Thankfully I saw none so I put her back into her side of the run.
I went over and opened the coop door and both hens tried to get out. Astrid pecked me pretty hard so I kept ”pecking” back on her beak. That happened a few times and she kicked me once until she stopped and stared at me with her chest puffed out. I then let both girls out.
Did I do anything wrong in these interaction? I really need help with this as it’s my first time and I get scared for the little ones. I’ve never seen Astrid do anything like that EVER. And I’ve let her specifically in the chick’s run to see how she does. Every time she never even batted a eye at them, what changed? Was it because of Pueo being so frantic that it drew her attention? I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want them to interact again until 12 weeks when they are bigger and hopefully can stand up for themselves.
Later today I am thinking of adding tons of pine tree branches in both runs to keep them busy. I’ve been doing that for a while but I didn’t add any new branches in this interaction which was stupid of me.
