Newbie with a dominant hen question

[soulshinetractor]

Greetings fellow bird lovers! Nice to find this community.

My family just started a backyard layer tractor set-up. We have an A frame with a yard (~4x7), a ladder into a protected roost area with a bar and two nesting boxes.

We got three ~ 1 year old RIRs today from farmer with a large flock and introduced them to their new home. They seem to be doing fine overall - we even got one egg already!

However, one of the gals seems to be very dominant... she seems to be keeping the other two hens up in the roost!

Is this normal? Normal for a little while as they settle in to their new home? Will the three hens normalize relations and do fine or should we worry about the two dominated ladies?

Thanks for any tips. We're completely new to this and want to do the right thing by our new hens.

 

[Mahonri]

Hi there and first off...

They should normalize in a few days. If they don't you may need to put the dominant one in Chicken jail for a day or two.

So glad you found us! We just passed 30,000 members today!

 

[cmom]

I agree with Mahonri. I had a couple of hens that were very agressive. I put them in Chicken jail.

 

[soulshinetractor]

Thanks for the input thus far!

Today the situation seems about the same.

The two "dominated" hens won't come down out the roost on their own. (If we help them gain access, they'll come.)

It seems like the dominant hen is keeping them up there.

What might a simple "chicken jail" look like?

Any other thoughts?

Guidance all much appreciated!