New Chickens Bullying

[Jenhensroos]

Hi! I'm trying to integrate three older hens into my flock, ages around 2 years? Friends are moving out of the country & needed to re-home them. My original three are younger, 6-8 months in age. My 6-month-old BCM is fine; she's the boss of the flock. My younger EE & BO are being bullied by the older three. The three older ones were free-ranging before being added last Saturday. The older hens will seek out these younger two to peck & pull on feathers. I've spread out food & water, but sometimes one of the older gals will run across the run to peck the EE & BO if they eat or drink. The EE & BO have taken to hiding behind and staying close to my rooster. He will sometimes come between the bullies & the victims.

Is this all normal behavior? Could they still be doing the pecking order shuffle for over a week, or should they have settled that by now? Do I remove the three older hens or the younger two? What's a good course of action? It's hard to watch because I love the younger two; they're my babies!

 

[Mrs. K]

Basically you have doubled your flock, so that dramatically decreases the available space. Over crowded birds often times lead to ugly behaviors. Pictures of your set up and measurements can help.

Another point is what does the available space look like? Adding clutter might really help. Many times I see basically two dimensional wide open runs on here. There is just a wide open space so that every bird can see every other bird 100% of the time. Getting out of sight is often a way that birds show respect to their elders, and failing to get out of sight is like giving the elders lip, that must be reprimanded.

Adding mini walls, hideouts, windbreaks, roosts, platforms that birds can get under or on top of, makes more use of the third dimension of space - vertical space. It will look cluttered to you, it should even be a bit difficult for you to move around it, but it will be much more helpful to all of your birds.

Try removing one of the bullies. What I have seen is one bird is the leader, and others follow her lead. Sometimes breaking her away or even two of them away will help. In your case, you would leave one of the older birds with your original girls. Might be a bit of bluster, but should settle quickly as it is one old bird to 3 established younger birds. Wait several days, then add one of the more aggressive birds, and wait again for several days, then add the last one.

Multiple hidden feed bowls so that a bird eating at one, cannot be seen from birds eating at another.

Are your original birds laying? Once they start laying, this tends to get better.

Mrs K

 

[Jenhensroos]

Thanks so much for replying!

Basically you have doubled your flock, so that dramatically decreases the available space. Over crowded birds often times lead to ugly behaviors. Pictures of your set up and measurements can help.

My run is 22' by 15'. The coop is smaller, 8' by 4', and has 6 nesting boxes.

Another point is what does the available space look like? Adding clutter might really help. Many times I see basically two dimensional wide open runs on here. There is just a wide open space so that every bird can see every other bird 100% of the time. Getting out of sight is often a way that birds show respect to their elders, and failing to get out of sight is like giving the elders lip, that must be reprimanded.

I read about adding clutter over the past week & built a tree-like roost in the center of the run. I have some treats hanging from it; they played with those, but no one has utilized the vertical space yet. I have two chairs in the run; one has an enclosed bottom. I pulled it away from the fence so they could hide behind it. The EE & BO like to roost on it too. The roof of the coop can be propped open & the younger gals have been known to roost up there and escape the coop when the older girls are blocking the door.

Adding mini walls, hideouts, windbreaks, roosts, platforms that birds can get under or on top of, makes more use of the third dimension of space - vertical space. It will look cluttered to you, it should even be a bit difficult for you to move around it, but it will be much more helpful to all of your birds.

I could add some more platform-ish things for them to hide under! I didn't think about that.

Try removing one of the bullies. What I have seen is one bird is the leader, and others follow her lead. Sometimes breaking her away or even two of them away will help. In your case, you would leave one of the older birds with your original girls. Might be a bit of bluster, but should settle quickly as it is one old bird to 3 established younger birds. Wait several days, then add one of the more aggressive birds, and wait again for several days, then add the last one.

Could they free-range during this removal? I have another fenced-in run, but it doesn't have a coop yet. It's filled with trees, but there aren't any significant bushes for the girls to hide under if they need to. However, if they were free-range, they would have loads of hidden spots.

Multiple hidden feed bowls so that a bird eating at one, cannot be seen from birds eating at another.

I'll try hiding food & water behind the chair, that's a great idea!

Are your original birds laying? Once they start laying, this tends to get better.

Yes, the younger gals are laying the most. Two of the older hens are laying occasionally, maybe every two days. The older EE has only laid an egg since Saturday. They are sitting on the younger hen's eggs, though.