Merging flocks, one bully chicken :(

[FunClucks]

Yes! Maybe we should make more, but we had a ton of wood leftover from building the coop, my husband likes to make them new toys every week it seems. We can focus more on hiding holes instead of vertical opportunities.

Edited to add: We have a little enclosure attached to the run (we covered in hardware cloth) that has this whole jungle gym they run all over. We'll get some of our leftover plywood and make some hideyholes and random walls for them to hide behind. We have 3 feeders and 5 waterers of various sizes, (plus one of each that stays in the coop) We'll be sure to put all of them out.View attachment 3282143

LOVE your setup!!! I am jealous of your elevation perches!!!

I had a suggestion or two - Unless your run stays almost perpetually dry, you might consider using deep litter, check out "deep litter method" on here. Also might try hanging "treat" food (veggies/fruits/etc) on chicken skewers so they can fly up to eat them or peck from one of those elevated platforms. We are over-run with banana peppers right now in the garden, so I put a few of those on the skewers, and the chickens happily peck them to bits. The best part is when they eat the outsides but the seeds fly out on the ground - fun for both the chickens up top pecking, and the ones below waiting for seeds to rain down onto their heads. Banana pepper = chicken pinata.

 

[CarlaCo]

Wow, great thread. We just separated a flock of babies we raised from day two. We had two Roos and 10 hens. My son got one roo and 5 hens. I tried to separate them by which ones hung more with each other or which roo but who knows. They all look alike.
Anyway, it’s been a week or so and I’m working at my sons so helping a bit with chicken chores while I’m here. He has an eglu. In the pan there are so many feathers. So there’s a bully, maybe two. It seems two of the girls are hiding in the eglu instead of coming out, and they look afraid of the others. But also in the poo pan and on the tray are some big white poos. I’ve never seen poo like that. Does it mean on if them is sick? Could that be why she’s being picked on?
We just started letting them free in the yard and I see big white poos in the yard too.

 

[BDutch]

@CarlaCo Chickens make one big poo with white dry urine every day (normally). The rest of the day the poops are more brown and much smaller.
Unwanted behaviour and stress are often a problem because when the chickens don’t have enough living space , things to do (like scratching for food) and places to withdraw.

 

[FunClucks]

Wow, great thread. We just separated a flock of babies we raised from day two. We had two Roos and 10 hens. My son got one roo and 5 hens. I tried to separate them by which ones hung more with each other or which roo but who knows. They all look alike.
Anyway, it’s been a week or so and I’m working at my sons so helping a bit with chicken chores while I’m here. He has an eglu. In the pan there are so many feathers. So there’s a bully, maybe two. It seems two of the girls are hiding in the eglu instead of coming out, and they look afraid of the others. But also in the poo pan and on the tray are some big white poos. I’ve never seen poo like that. Does it mean on if them is sick? Could that be why she’s being picked on?
We just started letting them free in the yard and I see big white poos in the yard too.

How old are the chickens? They could just be molting? You'd have to check over the actual chickens' bodies to see if there are bloody holes from feather picking to see if that's what's happening. Younger chickens molt a lot, and it's winter now, many chickens will molt around this time. There's pictures on this site so you know what you're looking for as far as feather picking goes. Large white poos could be regular cecal poos or indicative of worms or something else. There are articles on here about poo and worms so you can determine which you're looking at, or what else it might be. Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

might be the rooster, they often out grow the pullets and use their size to bully them.

 

[CarlaCo]

The chicks are only 10 weeks old now. I thought young ones didn’t molt. But maybe it’s molting. I have seen one hen run over and confront another but that looked like normal pecking order stuff.
I will read about worms. Before I moved them all last Monday, their poos all looked normal. He did buy a different feed from what we were feeding them and his is way finer and more crumbs.maybe that is causing it?

 

[3KillerBs]

The chicks are only 10 weeks old now. I thought young ones didn’t molt. But maybe it’s molting.

Youngsters go through several juvenile molts as they grow.

They have to because otherwise the feathers they had when little chicks wouldn't cover them completely.

 

[Rhyara]

LOVE your setup!!! I am jealous of your elevation perches!!!

I had a suggestion or two - Unless your run stays almost perpetually dry, you might consider using deep litter, check out "deep litter method" on here. Also might try hanging "treat" food (veggies/fruits/etc) on chicken skewers so they can fly up to eat them or peck from one of those elevated platforms. We are over-run with banana peppers right now in the garden, so I put a few of those on the skewers, and the chickens happily peck them to bits. The best part is when they eat the outsides but the seeds fly out on the ground - fun for both the chickens up top pecking, and the ones below waiting for seeds to rain down onto their heads. Banana pepper = chicken pinata.

View attachment 3282200

Thank you! We love to spoil them.
Chicken piñatas, so cute lol. We have one, what we call a chicken tetherball, (they did not like the net version AT ALL) but I have been meaning to get more skewers, I'll do that and place them throughout their space.
I can't wait to have a chicken garden! We keep buying them peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Always looks like I'm making delicious salsa but I'm just spoiling the babies lol

We just installed roofing under our deck where their run is so it's mostly waterproof. And a tarp is on the enclosure. We are gifted and cursed with sand instead of dirt on our property so their area is super easy to clean; giving the deep litter method a go in their coop though! Between that and the thick insulation we put in I think they should be plenty warm this winter ❤