My hens are working together with their chicks

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Lena, my dog, gets really jealous if the chickens are eating something. Like she would really like oatmeal if I offered it to her. LOL She is super picky but if I offer something to her and she turns away, then offer it to the chickens, now she wants it. It's funny to watch her. She is like... "but Mom, that's mine!" She won't hurt them but she will very carefully take something back, like a slice of bread... and she doesn't even like bread.
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Citychickengal said:
They’re lovely! Do you know what any of the breeds are?
Click to expand...

Thanks. When I got the eggs (from a lady on Craigslist), she said they had a Black Langshan rooster and a Golden Laced Brahma rooster. Their hens are Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. I saw the black rooster, he was very handsome and I have one that looks a lot like him.
 
So, I'm a bit perplexed with my girls. Two of them hatched the chicks out and dedicated a lot of time to them when they were little. The past couple weeks, those two girls have reunited with the other two and now it's kind of "us" against "them". They have a lot of room with the large stall, a smaller run of 15x40 and now a larger "pasture" of 40x50'. The hens don't mingle with the chicks (10 weeks old), instead they are very bossy and chase them whenever one comes near. At night in the stall, there are several areas to roost. The hens always roosted on the north wall... all of the them. When the chicks went to the roost with their "moms", they were all on the west wall. These roosts are the same height and meet in the corner. Now, I have 3 hens on the north, then the chicks on the west, and at the far end of the west wall is the other hen... not one of the "moms". When they first go in for the night, the hens will keep going over and peck at the chicks that happen to be on the ends. Just a peck or two to get them agitated, then moves away. This goes on for maybe the first 20 minutes or so. I don't know how to stop it. It's like they keep them in a corner. In fact, I had to keep everyone inside 2 days ago, because there were a LOT of hawks in the area (unusual). Whenever I went out to check on them, all of the chicks were in a tight bunch in the corner. The hens were doing whatever they wanted. There are a lot of different levels of roosts in there and it is a 10x10 area, so there is plenty of room. But it's bugging me with how mean the hens are being to the chicks.
 
Kat2141 said:
So, I'm a bit perplexed with my girls. Two of them hatched the chicks out and dedicated a lot of time to them when they were little. The past couple weeks, those two girls have reunited with the other two and now it's kind of "us" against "them". They have a lot of room with the large stall, a smaller run of 15x40 and now a larger "pasture" of 40x50'. The hens don't mingle with the chicks (10 weeks old), instead they are very bossy and chase them whenever one comes near. At night in the stall, there are several areas to roost. The hens always roosted on the north wall... all of the them. When the chicks went to the roost with their "moms", they were all on the west wall. These roosts are the same height and meet in the corner. Now, I have 3 hens on the north, then the chicks on the west, and at the far end of the west wall is the other hen... not one of the "moms". When they first go in for the night, the hens will keep going over and peck at the chicks that happen to be on the ends. Just a peck or two to get them agitated, then moves away. This goes on for maybe the first 20 minutes or so. I don't know how to stop it. It's like they keep them in a corner. In fact, I had to keep everyone inside 2 days ago, because there were a LOT of hawks in the area (unusual). Whenever I went out to check on them, all of the chicks were in a tight bunch in the corner. The hens were doing whatever they wanted. There are a lot of different levels of roosts in there and it is a 10x10 area, so there is plenty of room. But it's bugging me with how mean the hens are being to the chicks.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a dominance thing.
They want the chicks to know they’re in charge.
I’m not sure what would help the situation.
It takes a long time for them to behave like a complete flock.
It seems that additional birds end up being a sort of sub flock for a while.
 
Chooks... it sounds like you've seen this before. It IS like there are 2 flocks right now. I guess I was just surprised since they have all been right together since hatching. I would have understood it better if they were separated and then I put them together. Hopefully they sort it out soon. I was thinking about ways to separate the stall for roosting but I think it might cause more problems rather than less. Thanks.
 

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