My chickens don't seem to get along?

[Cluck1nLove]

As the title goes.
I adopted two chickens (Seed and Sesame) on different days of December last year. The first chicken, Seed, who was a backyard chicken from my relative, arrived on the 15 of December; The second chicken, Sesame, who was a caged meat chicken, arrived on the 31. Seed doesn't seem to like her new partner, Sesame. When feeding, Seed would peck Sesame's comb if the latter tries to eat. Is Seed telling the new chicken who's the boss here (pecking order rearranging)?

Personality: Seed is outgoing while Sesame is cowardly and timid. Seed likes me and when she sees me, she wiggles in the cage on the balcony. Sesame just squats or stands in the corner for most of the time, and barely clucks a bit.

I quarantined these chickens for some days, but Seed won't stop pecking Sesame's comb. Should I continue putting them in quarantine?

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Is seed drawing blood from sesame?
The pecking order can look a bit mean, but it does sound like sesame is just lower and seed is trying to make sure sesame knows who's boss.
I love their names, by the way!

 

[Cluck1nLove]

Is seed drawing blood from sesame?
The pecking order can look a bit mean, but it does sound like sesame is just lower and seed is trying to make sure sesame knows who's boss.
I love their names, by the way!

Nah, I see no blood, so you might be right... Thank you though!

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Nah, I see no blood, so you might right... Thank you though!

Ok!
Of course, happy to help!

 

[LaFleche]

Seed likes me and when she sees me, she wiggles in the cage on the balcony. Sesame just squats or stands in the corner for most of the time, and barely clucks a bit.

Do you keep them in a cage on your balcony or are they able to range outdoors during the day?

How old are they? Being a meat chicken, Sesame might already have health issues as they are bred to be harvested at around 8-14 weeks of age. Passing this stage they usually are not able to walk properly and often will succumb to heart failure as their speedy growing body mass puts too much pressure on their organs.

 

[Cluck1nLove]

Do you keep them in a cage on your balcony or are they able to range outdoors during the day?

How old are they? Being a meat chicken, Sesame might already have health issues as they are bred to be harvested at around 8-14 weeks of age. Passing this stage they usually are not able to walk properly and often will succumb to heart failure as their speedy growing body mass puts too much pressure on their organs.

I keep them on the balcony. In the morning I let them out of the cage to let them walk around on the balcony, and in the evening they return to the cage to sleep.

Not exactly sure how old they are. The previous owner of Seed said she is around 5 months old, while Sesame is around 1 year old (Also when she was harvested).

Sesame doesn't look like the kind of meat chicken you described (because meat chickens in China were once cottage-living free-range chickens and they grew up normally), but I can tell her health issue is concerning. When I took her home, she had diarrhea, so I fed her some pills. Her diarrhea is now gone, but still, she isn't as active as Seed, as she barely clucks and acts slowly.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think you are in a wreck. While one can cheat a little on the “rules” of chickens, you are trying to cheat too much.

Maybe it is semantics and translation, and what I am imagining is a small balcony, a laying hen and a struggling to live Cornish cross. Post some pictures of you birds and set up so that we understand and see the same thing.

Mrs K

 

[rosemarythyme]

x2 on pictures. If this is a typical balcony it's probably way too small and lacking in any natural stimulation (dirt, bugs, shady trees or bushes, branches) to keep them occupied, so the way they often react in stressful situations is to take it out on each other.

At the very least, even with only 2 birds, you should have 2 different feeding areas so one can't guard the food.