diamondsilkies
Songster
Recently, I've had some pecking order issues in one of my pens. I figured it would work itself out, but it's been quite a while now, and they are still having issues, so I've decided it's finally time for me to butt in. Just curious for some input on how I can remedy the situation. Here's some background info:
I have three pens/coops. Pen #1 is where I keep my main flock, with my standard sized breeds and a few silkies. It currently has 10 birds: 8 hens and 2 very docile roosters. Pen #2 is my grower/broody pen. All the birds in there are eventually introduced into the main flock. It currently has 1 broody hen and her 4 chicks. Pen #3 is my serama coop. This is its own little flock, which is really just meant for my seramas. This is the problem coop.
In my serama coop, I have 6 hens: 5 seramas and 1 golden Wyandotte (named Bee). The reason she's in there is because last year, I was doing a hatch with seramas but had an incubator malfunction. Only one chick hatched (named Mary), so I went to the feed store to get her a friend. It was late in chick season so they didn't have any bantams left. I ended up getting Bee and they became very bonded. When it was time to put them into the main flock, I decided not to separate them, and to instead put them both in the serama coop. They were both relatively young at the time, and my serama girls can hold their own pretty well. At the time, I also had a serama rooster, who has since passed. I figured that Bee's size wouldn't be too much of an issue in the pecking order, and for a while, I was right.
The other 4 seramas in the coop are Ivy (usually very dominant), Camille (near the bottom of the pecking order), Bean and Pippi (sisters who I got together as pullets, used to be very bonded as well). When my rooster was still around, everyone seemed to get along all right. Once he died, though, things got a little shuffled and never worked themselves out. Bee took his death as an opportunity to work her way up in the pecking order. She and Mary aren't nearly as bonded as they used to be, since they now live with other chickens, but Bee is still very protective of Mary. At this point, she has become very aggressive towards Bean and Camille, to the point where they sit in/on the roost/nesting box/corner most of the day to avoid her. I am worried about them not getting enough to eat/drink since she is so defensive of the food and water. Pippi and Mary have followed Bee's lead and also chase the other two around. I'm a little confused by this since Bean and Pippi used to be so close. Ivy, Pippi, and Mary all get along perfectly with Bee.
I honestly don't know how Bee and Mary would react to being separated. They aren't nearly as close as they used to be, but there is this whole issue of Bee being super protective. At this point, I would rather put Bee in with my main flock, in Pen #1, but a few of the hens in there have always been pretty aggressive towards her. I haven't tried doing any formal introduction with them, but when they're outside they go after her if she gets too close, and continue running after her until she's pretty far away. My other thought was to quarantine Bee in a cage in the serama coop, to see if everyone else works out their problems, and then try re-introducing her. How do these ideas sound? Do you have any other thoughts? Any similar issues? Thanks for reading, sorry it got a little long.
I have three pens/coops. Pen #1 is where I keep my main flock, with my standard sized breeds and a few silkies. It currently has 10 birds: 8 hens and 2 very docile roosters. Pen #2 is my grower/broody pen. All the birds in there are eventually introduced into the main flock. It currently has 1 broody hen and her 4 chicks. Pen #3 is my serama coop. This is its own little flock, which is really just meant for my seramas. This is the problem coop.
In my serama coop, I have 6 hens: 5 seramas and 1 golden Wyandotte (named Bee). The reason she's in there is because last year, I was doing a hatch with seramas but had an incubator malfunction. Only one chick hatched (named Mary), so I went to the feed store to get her a friend. It was late in chick season so they didn't have any bantams left. I ended up getting Bee and they became very bonded. When it was time to put them into the main flock, I decided not to separate them, and to instead put them both in the serama coop. They were both relatively young at the time, and my serama girls can hold their own pretty well. At the time, I also had a serama rooster, who has since passed. I figured that Bee's size wouldn't be too much of an issue in the pecking order, and for a while, I was right.
The other 4 seramas in the coop are Ivy (usually very dominant), Camille (near the bottom of the pecking order), Bean and Pippi (sisters who I got together as pullets, used to be very bonded as well). When my rooster was still around, everyone seemed to get along all right. Once he died, though, things got a little shuffled and never worked themselves out. Bee took his death as an opportunity to work her way up in the pecking order. She and Mary aren't nearly as bonded as they used to be, since they now live with other chickens, but Bee is still very protective of Mary. At this point, she has become very aggressive towards Bean and Camille, to the point where they sit in/on the roost/nesting box/corner most of the day to avoid her. I am worried about them not getting enough to eat/drink since she is so defensive of the food and water. Pippi and Mary have followed Bee's lead and also chase the other two around. I'm a little confused by this since Bean and Pippi used to be so close. Ivy, Pippi, and Mary all get along perfectly with Bee.
I honestly don't know how Bee and Mary would react to being separated. They aren't nearly as close as they used to be, but there is this whole issue of Bee being super protective. At this point, I would rather put Bee in with my main flock, in Pen #1, but a few of the hens in there have always been pretty aggressive towards her. I haven't tried doing any formal introduction with them, but when they're outside they go after her if she gets too close, and continue running after her until she's pretty far away. My other thought was to quarantine Bee in a cage in the serama coop, to see if everyone else works out their problems, and then try re-introducing her. How do these ideas sound? Do you have any other thoughts? Any similar issues? Thanks for reading, sorry it got a little long.
