New to Chickens, I need help figuring out what their behavior means and what to do

[Rianoel]

Hi!

I am a new chicken keeper! I have two flocks, one of 6 hens, 3 bantams and 3 Eastereggers. They get along great, this is not the ‘problem’ flock.

The other flock, all Serama chickens, is what I am worried about. We hatched them from eggs. They are approximately 16 and a half weeks old. The flock hatched out 9 chickens, but we lost a pullet at 15 weeks. Currently there are for sure 5 pullets, 2 cockerelles, and one we’re pretty sure it’s a boy, but could be a girl. It has longer legs than the hens, and a bigger comb at waddles, but not as big as the other boys. Like maybe half the size of Timmy and Twix, but twice the size of the girls. (Keep in mind the kids named the chickens when they were two days old.). Twix, our dominate rooster, has started to crow last week, but nobody is laying eggs yet.

To get the names straight:

Roos: Twix (in charge). Timmy (definitely not in charge)

Hens: Sleepy, Batman, Mr.Gray, Raisin, Sugar. Kevin (deceased)

Might be a hen: Zippy

As far as I can tell, Twix and Timmy have worked things out between themselves. Timmy steers clear of Twix, and sometimes perches on top of the water bottle to take a break, but there is no sustained aggression as long as they have space, and they both watch over the hens if they perceive a dangerous situation.

Kevin, the hen that died, was high in the pecking order. Her bestie, Sugar, fell to the bottom of it when she died. Sugar is teeny, a third of the size of our dominate rooster, Twix. Twix has started painfully pecking at some of the hens, Sugar, Sleepy, Batman, and the maybe-hen Zippy. He mostly leaves alone Raisin and Mr. Gray. This pecking exclusively involves preventing the hens from getting to the food, and also going after Zippy occasionally.

He does peck them other times, especially Sleepy who is now the biggest hen (it was Kevin), but they don’t seem painful, and no parts are ripped off or bleeding.

My other problem is Zippy, who started going after Batman over a month ago. Batman is actually missing a good bit of comb from having Zippy peck and rip at it. Unfortunately, Batman is a black bird and the pink spot where the comb is gone has proven irresistible to the other chickens for pecking. I had started keeping it covered in Blu-kote, which seems to have taken care of the other birds’ interest, but Zippy is still going after Batman. Batman couldn’t care less about Zippy, and mostly spends her time hanging out with Sleepy and Mr. Gray. Batman is still oblivious to the fact Zippy doesn’t like her, and is completely surprised *every time* Zippy ambushes her.

So I would like advice on what to do. Why has Twix decided to chase most of the hens away from the food? Why won’t Zippy leave Batman alone? Is there a way to get them to change these behaviors? Should I separate them? Put Zippy and Twix on their own? Stick them in with big girls? When I say big, the Easter eggers are 14 weeks and 3 times the size of Twix, who is our biggest Serama. That seems fraught with peril, and also disruptive to the flock that gets along fine. More food bowls?

We are building a new coop and run for the big girls because we bought a premade one for them and not only did it break, it is way too small. The new one will be 8 feet to 6 feet tall, lean to style, coop floor 10x10, run area 16x16. The big girls free range part of the day, but our area has a lot of predators and I’m worried the seramas would be eaten.

Any help given will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Susan

 

[cavemanrich]

So I would like advice on what to do. Why has Twix decided to chase most of the hens away from the food? Why won’t Zippy leave Batman alone? Is there a way to get them to change these behaviors? Should I separate them? Put Zippy and Twix on their own? Stick them in with big girls? When I say big, the Easter eggers are 14 weeks and 3 times the size of Twix, who is our biggest Serama. That seems fraught with peril, and also disruptive to the flock that gets along fine. More food bowls?

I highlighted the ideas that you have written.
Let me add some more.
Seems like they are in tight area currently. You building new housing will make things much better. One good thing to include in a run area,, are obstacles so chickens can run behind, and be out of sight. Don't place things so they are trapped with no way out.
Multiple feeders and water are very beneficial to all flocks.

So let me give my opinion on the other 2 items.
If you put Zippy, and Twix away from flock for a week, when they return, they will be newcomers. That may KOOL them down some. worth a try.
Slipping them with the bigger hens may do same action.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Rianoel]

Thank you for the advice! And the welcome. . I put out a second food dish this morning. They were far apart enough that Twix could not hog both at the same time. Watching him chase Sleepy, Batman, Sugar and Timmy back and forth trying to keep them away from the food was some good entertainment.

The seramas have crushed pellet food out all the time, but they get fed a serving of it wet down in the AM and the PM. They really like it smooshy. They’re in a chicken tractor, I think mostly they eat grass and whatever bugs they can find the rest of the day. Also some of whatever vegetables and fruit that are chicken friendly from the garden. They got strawberries today, yum.

Timmy is half the size of Twix. If I take Twix out and then put him back, do you think the fight for supremacy would be brutal? Twix is large pigeon size and Timmy is regular cardinal size. I’m worried Timmy will get curb-stomped. He is a sweet boy, and likes riding around on my shoulder. I’d definitely feel bad if he got hurt.