Is it common for a hen to always be so scared submissive or unsure. My poor girl never been harmed or hurt or we have never given her any reason to be fearful. But when we try and pick her up she runs into a corner and tries to hide until we hold her she seems ok on Saturday my other amberlink roo began to chase her. she ran for her life screaming when I finally got to her she was sitting with her head tucked down just so scared my roo began pulling her feathers and pecking her. I grabbed Her as fast I could chasing my roo away she curled into me she wasn't shaking but she was obviously frightened,I held her a long time. She was fine after a while and just went about her day. I wanted to incorporate her with my roo and other girls but now I'm just not sure about her. Right now she is housed with my silkie roo my Wyandotte hen Rhode Island hen and she is a buff Orpington . What should I do. Is her breed naturally fearful. She is other wise healthy does fine with her house sisters and is unsure of us but accepts our touch. We are never aggressive we handle them carefully always. She goes to a vet for regular care so she pretty healthy Can it be her, she just chicken, some pun intended lol.. Advice please.
That behavior is normal when you introduce a single bird into an established flock. How many hens are with the aggressive rooster?
It could just be her. I have a buff Orpington that went broody and I got some eggs for her to hatch. I don't have roosters. When I finally introduced her and her chick to the rest of the flock knowing they would have to find their place in the pecking order line, they just stay on top of the nest boxes to avoid getting pecked on the main floor! She is my only Orpington hen. Roosters can be awfully rough too though!! Maybe best to keep them apart for awhile! It's always best if you can keep them separate while allowing them to still see each other.
I have 7 chicken all together. In are larger coop it holding our 1yr olds which is 2 Easter egger hens and our larger amberlink roo. The girls follow him like clockwork. But I really think peanut butter is to dog in this small flock lol. But on the serious note my roo Banana is very dominant. In our smaller coop is holding our 5 month olds who just been taken permanently out for about a month and a half now. Which consist of our 6mo old silkie roo, 5 mo Wyandotte 5mo Rhode Island and our 5 mo buff. The girls seem comfortable with our little roo leche. He keeps them in line and sheep Heard's them from dangers he think are round and our other flock. The coops are side by side with plenty of viewing of each other. We try and let them out together they stay with there groups. Ultimately my goal is to put them all together In the larger coop. I don't know I just hope it's her . I can probably wait another month to try and incorporate them. Hopefully by then they are more comfortable. Oh their names are I case you were wondering peanut butter, jelly, banana, leche, chocolate Vanilla and Flan. .. banana and leche are our Roos.
Flock integration can be tricky. Your ratio of Roosters to Hens should be about 1:10 It sounds like your ratio is 1:3 which is not nearly enough hens for 2 roosters to share. This is likely to cause your birds a lot of stress IMO. How you want to deal with integration is your decision but I recommend reading some articles on this site about the subject. Best wishes!
