shirechickens
Chirping
- Sep 10, 2020
- 14
- 12
- 64
About three months ago I introduced two new pullets to my two existing (now quite elderly) hens. The pullets were definitely the underdogs but they integrated without any significant problems.
About three weeks ago we had an escalation of aggressive behaviour from all the hens to the ones below them in the pecking order - there's no obvious single bully. We're talking standing on top of other hens and pulling feathers out which I haven't seen before, and when one starts the others join in.
Nothing in their set-up changed to provoke this that I could think of, and to try to help it I have:
- Introduced a new feeding station (I have three feeding and watering stations now for four hens at different levels, and two nestboxes in different places)
- Added some flower pots in to break the line of sight
- Allowed the hens to free range in my large garden for an hour or two a day, which they don't normally do
Nothing has helped, and yesterday the hen at the bottom of the pecking order was attacked so badly she was left bleeding and with a partly bald head.
I've split the run into two and isolated the hen at the top of the pecking order, and things seem a little better. The hen who is second in command is still being aggressive but less so.
In terms of set-up, overnight between 8pm and 8am the hens are housed in a covered fox-proof run about 3m by 2m. They're not shut away in a coop during the summer as they prefer to roost on the various bars I have set up in the run. During the day the run is left open and they have access to an additional outside area about four to five times larger than the run itself (so I guess about 30 square metres or around 300 square feet in total). The run has lots of different levels, roosting bars and places to hide.
What else can I do?
About three weeks ago we had an escalation of aggressive behaviour from all the hens to the ones below them in the pecking order - there's no obvious single bully. We're talking standing on top of other hens and pulling feathers out which I haven't seen before, and when one starts the others join in.
Nothing in their set-up changed to provoke this that I could think of, and to try to help it I have:
- Introduced a new feeding station (I have three feeding and watering stations now for four hens at different levels, and two nestboxes in different places)
- Added some flower pots in to break the line of sight
- Allowed the hens to free range in my large garden for an hour or two a day, which they don't normally do
Nothing has helped, and yesterday the hen at the bottom of the pecking order was attacked so badly she was left bleeding and with a partly bald head.
I've split the run into two and isolated the hen at the top of the pecking order, and things seem a little better. The hen who is second in command is still being aggressive but less so.
In terms of set-up, overnight between 8pm and 8am the hens are housed in a covered fox-proof run about 3m by 2m. They're not shut away in a coop during the summer as they prefer to roost on the various bars I have set up in the run. During the day the run is left open and they have access to an additional outside area about four to five times larger than the run itself (so I guess about 30 square metres or around 300 square feet in total). The run has lots of different levels, roosting bars and places to hide.
What else can I do?
