New member, fighting hens? help!

frenchlakechickens

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HI We are new to chickens and I just signed up to the forum today. We have 6 hens that were purchased in April 2010. All were raised together. We have a small coop with 6 nest box holes and it is attached to a run which is built under a 2nd story deck (so it is sort of under cover) on rock/dirt. This pen is about 15X20. There is a separate 10X10 dog kennel attached to this they go out into during the day (closed at night). So, i think this is plenty of room for only 6 hens. There are perching areas and stumps to climb on. We have 1 Wyandotte, 2 Rocks, 1 EE, 1 RIR and 1 Orp. The Wyandotte has become very bossy and has been picking the others bad, especially the RIR and EE (which are smaller). So I separated her and put her in the garage in a dog kennel for a week and when I tried to reintroduce her it was instant vicious fighting between her and the 2nd in command (the white rock). I watched for a few min and tried to distract w/ scratch grain and other things but it was instant stress for everyone and in minutes the Wyandotte was back to picking on everyone, pulling out feathers, etc.
Is there any chance of getting her to mix back with the flock or should I rehome her? We are wanting to raise about 6 more chicks I am worried about how in the world I can introduce them to the rest of the flock. Thanks for any advice!
Paula
 
First, is any of the pecking drawing blood? It's sometimes hard to watch, but they will establish their pecking order and it can seem to us to be quite brutal. If they arn't drawing blood, I would have another go at it. If they are drawing blood, then yes, she must be seperated in chicken jail.

You got a LOT of nesting boxes..lol

Would like to see a pic of your coop.
 
Yep we got the 6 hole box so we could expand and have more hens. I knew in advance that they would tend to "share" and lay in the same hole, which they do.
Before we took the wyandotte out, yes, some of the hens are pecked to the point of "damage" the EE hen has a bald back and is red and pecked up and the RIR has a bald head/neck and back and some picking of the barred rock on the back and butt area which was red and picked up. As far as I can tell the Wyandotte is the only one who picks to the point of damage the others just do what I would call "normal" picking for dominance. I put the rooster lotion on the damages areas (I can tell they do NOT like the taste of that!). Since I removed the Wy. hen the feathers are growing back there are new pinfeathers on the RIR and EE.
smile.png

The Wyandotte is a gorgeous bird I hate to place her but she is so mean! Perhaps she is taking on the "rooster" role since we don't have a rooster (and can't have one due to neighbors). I think she would be OK in a bigger, free range area, maybe with a rooster to keep her in line!
Sorry I don't know how to add pics of my coop but I have them on Fb.
Paula
 

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