Old chickens beating up new chickens

[LesGan]

beak: will momma hen still take care of baby if it has tea tree oil on it and would the oil bother the baby??

 

[beak]

I'm not sure. I know it doesn't hurt them but we have never had a momma/baby situation. I'm just talking about when you have laying hens in a coop and you want to introduce some fresh birds that are say 20 weeks old. It also helps to stop hens from pecking at the occasional hen that has blood on her rear end. The Tea Tree oil is real good for helping open sore to heal.

I doubt the momma hen would want the baby around if it had tea tree oil on it. The stuff smells strong.

 

[Jajika]

Tea Tree oil?

What is that? Where do you get...and why Tea Tree?

Sounds like an interesting solution...I'd love to know more.

 

[Branderella]

I had a Leghorn,RIR, and a barred rock. a week later My leghorn died so I got an EE to replace her *from the same ppl* the two were sooo mean to her so I went and got her a friend. They helped each other out, and now the only have minor disputes

 

[wanda047]

I would never put tea tree oil on a chicken without doing some serious research . I know that it is lethal to cats, because their livers cannot process the oil. I've also read of dogs dieing who were being treated for fleas with it. It has to be used very carefully.

I have tea tree oil and the only time I use it is in treatment/prevention of head lice with our foster children. (10 drops of oil to a bottle of shampoo).

Back to the original post:

I traded in my water hose for a leaf rake and it works wonders.

May sound cruel, but when I'm in the yard and the bullies start in... I just reach for my rake and every chicken in the yard takes off running. Right now I have about 40 free ranging.

I started carrying my rake to my big coop every morning after having a few run-ins with a couple of my roosters. After a few swift kicks in the butt with the leaf rake and verbally demanding their respect, they no longer give me a problem. They've learned I'm the alpha-momma in the backyard.

When I started letting the younger chickens from a different coop & run free range with the older ones, the backyard turned into a war zone. It didn't last long though. I spent a couple hours in the backyard that day just holding my rake. Everybody behaved. They've learned to get along.

 

[beak]

Quote:
It's an essential oil. You can google it. It is a part of every first aid kit in Australia which is where it comes from. Does a good job on small cuts as an antiseptic. Heals them rather quickly. Been using it for 3 years now on chickens and nobody has died yet. Chickens or humans. Of course some of our chickens lay green eggs.

 

[chookchick]

Southern Gardener--if you need to keep the chickens in a run at all times, I would let them be in adjacent runs for 3 weeks. They can see each other, accept each other as part of the same flock. Then when you put them together, they should not go for the brutal attack. They MAY kill the newbies if they don't have this adjustment period. People that free-range seem to have a much easier time with introductions--the new ones just run away if the others go after them.

 

[noraflood]

In my *very* brief experience, free ranging helps a lot in introducing new chickens.

A few weeks ago we added a new pullet to a group who have been together since they were babies. They are all 13 weeks now. We kept the newbie in a separate cage when the chickens were in their run for a while, and then let them all free range in the yard together. Even though the others chased her, and tried to peck her, the new pullet (a barred rock) mostly just kept out of the other chickens' way. After a while we experimented with shooing her back into the run with the rest of them and they would bully and chase, but she found places to hide. Now they are coexisting, if not best friends. The original four are constantly together, but they tolerate the new girl.