New Member and Problems with my Flock

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Vfedorovsky

Vfedorovsky

Hatching
May 12, 2015
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Hi! My name is Vadim Fedorovsky and I am a new member! Below is my first post.

Hi all, this is my first post here. Excited to learn a lot!

I am hoping I can find some answers to some problems I am currently having with my flock.

I have one hen that I've had for about 2 years and I just got three new ones.

Problem 1: The older hen is extremely mean and aggressive towards the new chickens. I thought she would be like this at first but then cool off. She has been around them for over a week and she will still not stop bullying the rest of the flock. It's creating a very stressful environment. She will not sleep with the rest in the coop; she sleeps outside in the run.

Problem 2: No one is laying! The old hen was laying regularly until the new ones showed up. The new chickens may be too young but the older hen definitely is a regular layer and all of a sudden stopped laying when the new chickens showed up.

Problem 3: All the chickens but especially the old one seem to hate their run area. It's a decent size area for all of them but the old hen basically spends all day either bullying the others or very aggressively squawking and trying to get out of the pen.

As you can imagine, it's a very stressful environment! I hope I can find some good advice here on what to do. Thank you!
 
Welcome to BYC !!
Try removing the bully to a separate cage for a few days. They put her back. Maybe she will lose her top rank.
 
Welcome to BYC, Vadim! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Sorry to hear about all the stress going on right now. I understand what it's like to introduce new birds and have to deal with bossy, mean hens. Here are my thoughts on the problems:

Problem 1: The older hen is extremely mean and aggressive towards the new chickens. I thought she would be like this at first but then cool off. She has been around them for over a week and she will still not stop bullying the rest of the flock. It's creating a very stressful environment. She will not sleep with the rest in the coop; she sleeps outside in the run. Although a week may seem like a while, it can actually take months for a flock to completely settle into one another. Something you might try is putting the mean hen in a cage where she can see the other birds but can't be around them. Keep her in there for a day or two and then let her back in with the others. This might mellow her out a bit.

Problem 2: No one is laying! The old hen was laying regularly until the new ones showed up. The new chickens may be too young but the older hen definitely is a regular layer and all of a sudden stopped laying when the new chickens showed up. Yes, when things are stressful, no one lays. This is totally normal. Once they are all settled they will start laying again. Make sure they have lots of food, water and calcium in the meantime.

Problem 3: All the chickens but especially the old one seem to hate their run area. It's a decent size area for all of them but the old hen basically spends all day either bullying the others or very aggressively squawking and trying to get out of the pen. If the mean hen is out in the run then the others will obviously not want to be around her. So the reason why they aren't out there is probably because they just don't want to be bullied.

Hope this helps! Best of luck.
 
Mountain Peeps said:
Welcome to BYC, Vadim! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Sorry to hear about all the stress going on right now. I understand what it's like to introduce new birds and have to deal with bossy, mean hens. Here are my thoughts on the problems:

Problem 1: The older hen is extremely mean and aggressive towards the new chickens. I thought she would be like this at first but then cool off. She has been around them for over a week and she will still not stop bullying the rest of the flock. It's creating a very stressful environment. She will not sleep with the rest in the coop; she sleeps outside in the run. Although a week may seem like a while, it can actually take months for a flock to completely settle into one another. Something you might try is putting the mean hen in a cage where she can see the other birds but can't be around them. Keep her in there for a day or two and then let her back in with the others. This might mellow her out a bit.

Problem 2: No one is laying! The old hen was laying regularly until the new ones showed up. The new chickens may be too young but the older hen definitely is a regular layer and all of a sudden stopped laying when the new chickens showed up. Yes, when things are stressful, no one lays. This is totally normal. Once they are all settled they will start laying again. Make sure they have lots of food, water and calcium in the meantime.

Problem 3: All the chickens but especially the old one seem to hate their run area. It's a decent size area for all of them but the old hen basically spends all day either bullying the others or very aggressively squawking and trying to get out of the pen. If the mean hen is out in the run then the others will obviously not want to be around her. So the reason why they aren't out there is probably because they just don't want to be bullied.

Hope this helps! Best of luck.
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x2
 
X 3 and Welcome to Backyard chickens Vadim, Your youngsters are probably thrilled that meany doesn't sleep in the coop with them - she's probably be knocking them off the roosts all night. Maybe some subtle warning would change her mind - show her a soup pot and tell her if she doesn't shape up she'll be swimming with noodles
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