Need pecking order advice

[kingfrodo]

I have one Lavender Orp roo. He is a good roo, knows his place, isnt rough with the girls, etc...

I have two Buff Orp hens and two EE hen/pullet (not sure of exact age but one is laying). The hens are seperated from Frodo by just a hard ware cloth fence. It divides the pen into two seperate pens b/c of the following issue.

Here is my deliema.

IF I have the four girls without Frodo the roo in the pen they get along fine. They all know their order and live peacefully. If I put Frodo in with them or when out free ranging he will "service" the BO and they accept him fine. and one of the BO girls is his leading lady.

BUT he persues the EE girls with a vengence. They wont submit to him so they run off cackling. When that happens my two BO will run after the EE and peck her while she sits on the ground. She wont even defend herself or run away. It's like mob mentality kicks in or something......

It is quite sad and this has been going on for a week.


I will put Frodo back in his pen and it stops. they are next to each other and get along fine.

What am I doing wrong?

Should I just put them all together and let it be?

I have tried just letting them be and the BO girls drew blood on the comb from the EE. I removed Frodo, they stopped, and I treated Bailey the EE and she was fine after he left.


or give the supervised visits more time?

Please be gentle as I'm fairly new to the chicken keeping.

 

[PolkaDot77]

My first thought is to put the EE girls and him together in a pen that is near your BOs so they can see that the world doesn't end when he pursues the EEs and they are not able to access the EEs to peck them up. As that normalizes, you could start re-integrating everyone and see how it goes from there. Good luck!

 

[donrae]

Try putting the roo in with the EE hens and pulling the Orp hens out to the other enclosure. Let the roo and those EE hens figure things out for a few days, then try putting one Orp hen in at a time.

 

[kingfrodo]

duh, I feel like such a dunce for not thinking about that angle.

I'll try that out tomorrow!

Thanks!!

 

[kingfrodo]

oh, also....what is a good time frame to give them? a few days, weeks, etc.... to know if it is working or not?

 

[PolkaDot77]

You will probably be able to tell when they are ready to be re-introduced. Try to keep the pen with the too and EEs within eye sight of the BOs so that they can see what's going on and learn to be okay with it. When they seem like it's no big thing anymore, then you can try again. I would probably give it at least a few days to a week.

 

[kingfrodo]

You will probably be able to tell when they are ready to be re-introduced. Try to keep the pen with the too and EEs within eye sight of the BOs so that they can see what's going on and learn to be okay with it. When they seem like it's no big thing anymore, then you can try again. I would probably give it at least a few days to a week.

You are awesome!

thanks!!

 

[bobbi-j]

Just be prepared that the orps will fuss a bit and act unhappy. They'll get over it, I promise.

 

[donrae]

Just be prepared that the orps will fuss a bit and act unhappy. They'll get over it, I promise.

This, they'll be unhappy while they're separate.

Most pecking order things seem to work themselves out in a few days, maybe up to a week but usually less. You just have to go by the feel for your flock.

 

[kingfrodo]

Just to give an update. IT WORKED!!!

I put the EE ladies in with Frodo only and as you said the BO girls were none too happy but after four days of that I added one at a time BO (there's only two) and now I have five happy chooks!!

The EE are at the bottom of the pecking order but they are interracting with the others and one finally squatted for Frodo.

thanks again!!!