Old chickens beating up new chickens

[Southern Gardener]

I've separated my four young girls from my older hens. They are in the same run but separated by a fence. They've been separated for a week. My young sweet speckled sussex got into the older girls run and my usually sweet buff orp and australorp almost killed her. I'm so ticked at the older girls and I'm afraid to put them together because I know they will kill or maim the youngers. Some say I should just put them together and let them work it out, but that seems so cruel to me. What am I going to do?

 

[cmom]

They will have to work out their pecking order. I had my pullets and hens next to each other for over a month before I put them together. Also I made sure they were about the same size. A couple of the hens were real bullies so I took the bullies out for a few days and let the rest work out their pecking order out. Everything was fine until I let the bullies back in. One bully calmed down but one was still aggressive. I understand they have to establish their pecking order, but one hen was after blood so then I would squirt her with a hose I had handy when I saw her pouncing on one of the younger birds. Every time I saw her jump on and wail away on one of the pullets I squirted her with a hose. She eventually got the message or was getting tired of being squirted and decided it just wasn't worth it.

 

[Southern Gardener]

cmom, that's a good idea. I'm going to put the two bullies by themselves and put the young girls in the big run and I'm definitely going to keep the hose handy. Thanks!

 

[silkeysandra]

I had the bully problem with my oldest silkie hen. I bought 3 newish silkies to be her friends since the other hens are D'Uccles. She immediately went to flapping and pecking. I put the new girls in a separate pen where everyone could see each other for a week. Everyone was fine. When I put the new girls in, my old silkie began pecking, but not flapping. The next morning I let all the girls into the protected morning pen, except the old hen. I made her stay in her cage for about 10 minutes with her fuming and pacing. The other girls were happy munching away on breakfast being perfect ladies. After 10 minutes, I let her out and she walked calmly--not run as I'd expected--to the pen door and I let her in. No problem. If she'd acted up, I'd have taken her out and put HER in the separate pen for a week.
Anyway, they all do fine now. I have seen the new girls line up to get their tiny peck from the old hen, then they go off and hunt insects together. oh well.

 

[Jajika]

Wow--does this all sound familiar.

I wrote earlier in the week about my Sex-Linked being a bully.

After quarantine time when I let the new girls mingle, there is always a bit of kurfufle as the new pecking order gets established.

Mostly the older runs just run up to the new ones to shoo them away.

Only one, Chole, the sex-linked has been mean. She jumps on the back of the new hens, but doesn't bite or otherwise hurt them, but scares the poop out of them.

I don't have a roo so others on the board suggested that Chole has taken on that role. Makes sense. She is one bossy woman!

I use a squirt bottle that I keep on the fence ready whenever. It is very effective using a spritz of water to maintain order.

However, I'm not home all day, so lots goes on when I'm out. So far I haven't seen any signs of damage.

 

[Southern Gardener]

Quote:
Not my two bullies, these witches are out for blood. These same two still bully my EE's but they've learned to dodge them.

 

[LesGan]

I have a child's watergun that I will use on the bully girls....fits nicely into my pocket. It works great for my kitties so why not hens? My worse bully is a black sex link, and she is actually the layer of the egg that was hatched by my BO producing the chick that she now bullies.

All has gone really well until momma hen decided that she and chick should be on roosting poles at night. Well.....that lasts for the amount of time that it takes for black hen to get on roost next to momma and then reach over and pull chick out from under her and start pecking on it. Momma and chick get down and go back to cage on floor with hay. Just dawned on me that I will put up a separate roost over by the cage for momma and chick. I have decided that this is going to be an ongoing life project!! Thank goodness I enjoy them so much, Leslie

 

[Jajika]

Interesting.

Are sex-linked chickens just mean?

This is the only chicken (Hen) I've ever had that such a miserable disposition.

Wondering.

 

[LesGan]

Don't know if black sex links are all mean, but mine has ended up being the alpha hen and she lets it be known to momma hen and chick. I did find it interesting when I read that black sex links will never go broody....but then one person said they had one that did. Totally fascinating these chickens.

 

[beak]

We put TeaTree oil on our newbies. The other chickens don't like the smell.