"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[Karpadm76]

Ok, another question. How do I stop a mean chicken from bullying the others? I realize there is going to be a dominant one, but she picks up the babies and shakes them like little rag dolls...

 

[Sharksandguitars]

don't put your babies and big chickens together...what I do is slowly introduce the chicks once they are around 4 or 5 weeks, until then I keep them in my house in a brood box so that they get plenty of socialization. Then I put the chicks in a kennel inside the run with the older chickens this way they can kind of get used to each other. Once I put a single 5 week old chick into my pen with the adults and they killed her, so they can kill the babies and possibly will.

 

[Karpadm76]

don't put your babies and big chickens together...what I do is slowly introduce the chicks once they are around 4 or 5 weeks, until then I keep them in my house in a brood box so that they get plenty of socialization. Then I put the chicks in a kennel inside the run with the older chickens this way they can kind of get used to each other. Once I put a single 5 week old chick into my pen with the adults and they killed her, so they can kill the babies and possibly will.

I was told they were both about 4 weeks old, so now 5 weeks. We have one that I think is probably a couple months older than them who has decided to protect them, she also protects the others, but keeps the smaller ones under her wing. The biggest one though, is mean to all of them, not just the babies. We started calling her b!#@#y because she is like that with all of them. She is also the only one that I bought by herself. The two babies came together, and the other two came together, she was a single picked up out of a cage by her lonesome. Could it be because she doesn't know any of the others? She is just plain mean.

 

[grambysfarm]

don't put your babies and big chickens together...what I do is slowly introduce the chicks once they are around 4 or 5 weeks, until then I keep them in my house in a brood box so that they get plenty of socialization. Then I put the chicks in a kennel inside the run with the older chickens this way they can kind of get used to each other. Once I put a single 5 week old chick into my pen with the adults and they killed her, so they can kill the babies and possibly will.

Yep! A week ago I gave my son 14 baby Pekin ducks. This weekend they put the ducklings in with their full grown chickens. A few hours later they came back to find 8 of the 14 ducklings pecked to death by the chickens. They took the remaining six inside and put them in a little wire kennel. Again, the poor little ducklings found out that we live in a very cruel world. The ducklings escaped from the kennel and met their demise by my son's tiny Chiquaua. In a matter of hours, all 14 ducklings were dead.

 

[Sharksandguitars]

is there anyway you can separate them in your pen? with a divider or a large kennel?

 

[Sharksandguitars]

Awwww....duckling massacre.

 

[Gracie9205]

A beautiful Sunday in the Country!

 

[Karpadm76]

No, they have been together for about a week, so I don't think it is that extreme, just picking on them when they are in her space rather than doing it constantly. It also seems more prevalent when they are in the tractor rather than in the yard. In the yard the two biggest ones kind of run off by themselves and Minnie and the babies kind of hang together. It seem high school cliquey to me..

 

[Karpadm76]

tractor is too small to separate them as well.

 

[NonnasBabies]

No, they have been together for about a week, so I don't think it is that extreme, just picking on them when they are in her space rather than doing it constantly. It also seems more prevalent when they are in the tractor rather than in the yard. In the yard the two biggest ones kind of run off by themselves and Minnie and the babies kind of hang together. It seem high school cliquey to me..

Don't be to sure... I put 1 week olds with 5 week olds and after a week or so came home to one dead and about 5 had their vents pecked so bad it wasn't even funny. I've also had hatch mates that just decided to turn on one of their own and strip him from his neck to his tail feathers. Seperate them, it's better to be safe than sorry!!