Mean Buffs

[Turklet]

This is not my first round of chickens. I ordered 6 Buff Orpingtons during Covid. No joke, they were mixed up at the post office with someone else's and I ended up getting 1 Buff Orpington and 5 red ones. I ordered Buffs with vaccines. All 5 red ones have died. So this spring I ordered another batch of seven females. However one ended up being a rooster, 5 female Buff Orpingtons and the free chick ended up being a female Buff Brahma. They were all super friendly chicks. Of course the friendliest turned out to be a rooster. The rooster is very mean and pushy. The ladies have also turned mean (except the original Buff). Once they were big enough they "free ranged" in my fenced in back yard. They have since made my 3 dogs and 1 cat scared to even go into the backyard. They will relentlessly chase my dogs and cat and even peck at them through the glass door. I have bite marks all over from the rooster and if I try to be friendly with the ladies, some of them will bite my arms and break the skin.
They have just started to lay eggs sporadically and have been banned from the backyard to a large fenced area. I spend a lot of time with them but am getting discouraged from being bitten and attacked. Will the ladies start to be nicer with age, or once they start to lay eggs consistently, or will the presence of the rooster always keep them mean? I am willing to separate the rooster if needed. They always run over to me but if I try to hand feed them, they just bite my fingers or arms and try to rip my clothes. They are not really nice to the Brahma either. She already had to be treated for an open sore from the others pecking her. Any ideas, advice would be greatly appreciated. They are treated like a part of the family and I don't want nasty chickens for the next 8 to 10 years. Thanks

 

[FrostRanger]

Cull the rooster, he won't get any nicer. You can wait and see if the hens have an attitude adjustment after he's gone but I doubt they will. If you don't want mean hens you can cull or rehome the mean girls and source your buff orpingtons from a different hatchery. I ordered a buff orpington from Meyer and Juniper is as sweet as the breed is famous for. Most buffs are sweet, I think either you got a bad batch or got birds from a bad line. I wish you better luck with your next batch

 

[FrostRanger]

Also, how big are your coop and run and what's their diet like?

 

[Turklet]

Also, how big are your coop and run and what's their diet like?

The coop was labeled for 20 chickens but is 4 feet wide x 10 feet long x 8 feet high. Half is the coop and half is an outer caged area. At 7am to 6pm, currently based on the daylight, they are let out into a 30 foot x 30 foot fenced area. They still have access to their coop all day.
Diet is organic layer feed, scratch grains, and cracked corn (for the cold weather). They also get an assortment of fruits and vegetables occasionally.

 

[FrostRanger]

The coop was labeled for 20 chickens but is 4 feet wide x 10 feet long x 8 feet high. Half is the coop and half is an outer caged area. At 7am to 6pm, currently based on the daylight, they are let out into a 30 foot x 30 foot fenced area. They still have access to their coop all day.
Diet is organic layer feed, scratch grains, and cracked corn (for the cold weather). They also get an assortment of fruits and vegetables occasionally.

coop sounds big enough for 8 birds. Since you have a rooster I would not feed layer feed as the extra calcium is bad for roosters. Layer feed, especially organic layer feed tends to be low on protein so I would switch to an all flock with 20% protein with oyster shell on the side for the girls and cut out the treats. It's a myth that corn and scratch keep birds warm. Yes, digestion generates some heat but not a significant amount and corn is nothing special in that regard. If corn really did generate a significant amount of heat regular chicken feed would be dangerous in summer as most chicken feed is mostly corn. While it probably won't help with the roo being mean, but chickens can be more prone to issues like feather picking if they don't get enough protein and the corn and scratch only further reduces the total amount of protein they're getting from their usual feed. Changing their diet could help the girls be a bit nicer amongst themselves at least

 

[Altairsky]

I can't see anything wrong in your setup. Aggressiveness is generally a genetic trait. I would honestly cull and I would never buy from that hatchery ever again. I tend to have an extreme lack of patience with human-aggressive domestic animals.

 

[aart]

The coop was labeled for 20 chickens but is 4 feet wide x 10 feet long x 8 feet high. Half is the coop and half is an outer caged area.

So the coop itself is 4x5?
Might be a bit tight.

I would switch to an all flock with 20% protein with oyster shell on the side for the girls and cut out the treats.

Ditto Dat^^^

Do they have this feed available every hour they are awake?

 

[Turklet]

coop sounds big enough for 8 birds. Since you have a rooster I would not feed layer feed as the extra calcium is bad for roosters. Layer feed, especially organic layer feed tends to be low on protein so I would switch to an all flock with 20% protein with oyster shell on the side for the girls and cut out the treats. It's a myth that corn and scratch keep birds warm. Yes, digestion generates some heat but not a significant amount and corn is nothing special in that regard. If corn really did generate a significant amount of heat regular chicken feed would be dangerous in summer as most chicken feed is mostly corn. While it probably won't help with the roo being mean, but chickens can be more prone to issues like feather picking if they don't get enough protein and the corn and scratch only further reduces the total amount of protein they're getting from their usual feed. Changing their diet could help the girls be a bit nicer amongst themselves at least

Thank you for the advice. I do give all flock feed to my runner ducks and guinea hens already. They are a mixed flock of males and females but I don't get a lot of interest in their eggs (we can only use so many eggs and our friends only want the chicken eggs). The ducks, chickens and guinea also get meal worms or peanut chips for protein. The worms and peanuts are new to the chickens as they only recently came off starter feed. I give the chickens layer feed thinking it would help with their eggs. But I did always wonder what to feed the rooster and how to separate his feed. There is always oyster shell and grit available 24/7 in their coop. Switching to all flock for everyone would make it so much easier. Thank you, I am going to try that.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I’ve also got a small coop, 4 birds is my limit. It sounds like your coop is big enough for 5 birds, I’d rehome at least the cockerel.

 

[aart]

Switching to all flock for everyone would make it so much easier.

Yes, yes it does.

Make sure they all have this feed available all the time.
Multiple feeders and waterers, set at least 6 feet apart with something to break up line of sight between can help.