One Chick Targeted

[Nicci0110]

Hi, a few weeks ago I thought my chickens were ready to be integrated. They are 11 weeks apart. I think the youngest were about 6 weeks. I did the no touch for a couple weeks. Then did supervised free ranging and moved on to them being the run together supervised. After a few days of this I decided they were ready and left them alone in the run for about 2 hours starting at 7am. My husband checked on them at 8 and then went out at 9 to check again. Our auto coop door had opened and everyone was free ranging but one of the little chicks had been scalped. She is a buff orpington and the older are RIR and RIR mixes. I was sure it was one of the older girls. Well Debra, the orpington has been inside ever since. The littles still love her and have no problem with her. They continued to come in at night for a couple of weeks until we modified the run and built them a temporary coop so they interacted every night. I took her with me to the beach because of her injuries and she is healing up well and got super spoiled over the course of the trip. When we got home yesterday after a 7 hour car ride I put her in the grass to stretch her legs and enjoy the grass. We were outside unloading our stuff. my husband had gone in to run things inside. I looked over and my Rooster who has never shown any real aggression puffed his feathers up, stuck his wings out big, titled his head down and CHARGED her. Luckily she ran away but after 2 kicks from me and one from my friend who had something other than flip flops on, he finally let off and thank goodness my girl was not hurt again. Later once the truck was unloaded I put her in a small cage to be outside while I cleaned their mess up in the coop. He came back out of the woods and rammed the cage over and over until my husband took a broom to him. His days are numbered for sure. I will for sure keep her before him especially since he is the problem. But why is specifically picking on this one chicken? I mean she is super small and showing no aggression to him. It is like he has a big grudge on her and she has always been super timid and was even scared of me until she has been so spoiled inside. Should I try to rehome him since he has never had any issues with the others or just cull him? He is about 21 weeks old. Is he too old to eat? Also, I should mention he is absolutely HUGE. Looks like he is on steroids he is so big. He is more than double the size of my RIR hens. He is bigger than the stats on google for his breed already at only 21 weeks old.

 

[Yardmom]

Your small pullet is currently being targeted because she has been away from the flock. In his mind she is an intruder. It is hard to tell if he wants to chase her away or force her into his flock.
Your cockeral is just hitting breeding maturity. What he acts like as a rooster is yet to be scene.

 

[Nicci0110]

Your small pullet is currently being targeted because she has been away from the flock. In his mind she is an intruder. It is hard to tell if he wants to chase her away or force her into his flock.
Your cockeral is just hitting breeding maturity. What he acts like as a rooster is yet to be scene.

So she was never a part of his flock. We were working to integrate the smaller ones with his flock of 5 hens and him. She has her own flock who still accept her and have no issues with her. This aggression has been directed at her and only her from the day we put them together. He does not do this to her other flock members which still are a separate flock. he and his 5 hens stay together and the 6 littles stay together and include her when I let her be with them. He has had it out for this specific chick since they met. He scalped her the first time and still does not like her at all.

 

[K0k0shka]

Orpingtons and RIRs should not be kept together. Especially younger Orpingtons and older RIRs together, that's just a death sentence. Orpingtons as a breed are very submissive, while RIRs are very dominant and aggressive (towards other chickens, not towards people). RIRs are natural bullies, and Orpingtons are natural victims, they don't pair well. I would not recommend trying to merge these two flocks in the same living space (even free ranging is a risk). Once the chick got scalped, she looked different, and chickens don't like others who look different. They attack the different, the weak, the sick and the injured, even of their own kind and their own flock. They are brutal. What the rooster did sucks, but it's not unexpected and not out of the ordinary at all. If you keep him, then don't let him mix with the Orpingtons. Have a separate area for them entirely.

 

[Nicci0110]

Orpingtons and RIRs should not be kept together. Especially younger Orpingtons and older RIRs together, that's just a death sentence. Orpingtons as a breed are very submissive, while RIRs are very dominant and aggressive (towards other chickens, not towards people). RIRs are natural bullies, and Orpingtons are natural victims, they don't pair well. I would not recommend trying to merge these two flocks in the same living space (even free ranging is a risk). Once the chick got scalped, she looked different, and chickens don't like others who look different. They attack the different, the weak, the sick and the injured, even of their own kind and their own flock. They are brutal. What the rooster did sucks, but it's not unexpected and not out of the ordinary at all. If you keep him, then don't let him mix with the Orpingtons. Have a separate area for them entirely.

I am probably not going to keep him because he even scared me yesterday honestly. Considering he is still so young and went this hard yesterday and is so big, I am not sure I could handle him once he is at full potential. They all free range with no issues and all stay in the run together with a divider for now and a separate coop. The little ones do go in to coop with them and the older ones do not mind but I cannot trust it until they are full size at this point so i have to remove them and get them and put them in their part of the run. Everyone is cohesive now that is living outside. Once I introduce Debra back in though it may not be this way. I am hoping her flock members will protect her because they still love her for sure. If not, then I suppose I now have an indoor chicken who can only play supervised. UGH. After everything I have gone through with her I will not be able to let her go. She clearly sees me as part of her flock now. She lays on me and makes trilling noises, begs for food, jumps to my lap when she is sleepy and trusts me fully. I am who she ran to when Henny Penny attacked yesterday. I bathe her and keep her wounds clean and blow dry her and she really is ridiculous at this point

 

[Nicci0110]

Orpingtons and RIRs should not be kept together. Especially younger Orpingtons and older RIRs together, that's just a death sentence. Orpingtons as a breed are very submissive, while RIRs are very dominant and aggressive (towards other chickens, not towards people). RIRs are natural bullies, and Orpingtons are natural victims, they don't pair well. I would not recommend trying to merge these two flocks in the same living space (even free ranging is a risk). Once the chick got scalped, she looked different, and chickens don't like others who look different. They attack the different, the weak, the sick and the injured, even of their own kind and their own flock. They are brutal. What the rooster did sucks, but it's not unexpected and not out of the ordinary at all. If you keep him, then don't let him mix with the Orpingtons. Have a separate area for them entirely.

Oh and she is the only Orpington. Her flock consists of 2 Barred Rocks, one White leghorn (was supposed to be an orpington) 2 Red Sex Link, and 1 easter egger. I appreciate you answering. I really hope my hens that are RIR and RIR mixes. 5 of them total won't be mean to her if I get rid of him.

 

[K0k0shka]

He sounds like he needs to go then, regardless of the hurt chick... Roosters are next level chickening, not for everybody (and often not worth the trouble anyway). Try reintroducing the hurt chick after he's gone. Often there will be other chickens who follow the bully and gang up on the victim, but if there is no clear bully to follow, they won't initiate anything on their own. Hopefully, your situation is like that and after he's gone (ASAP if possible), the other RIRs chill out and leave the younger chicks alone (the hurt one especially). But keep their tendencies in mind and don't trust them. They may be fine, or they may not... And unfortunately you may not get a warning until it's too late.

That chick being the only Orpington isn't really a good thing... The other breeds can stand up for themselves better than her, so she's still the one most likely to be bullied. The fact that her flock mates like her (as in, don't attack her) doesn't translate to them actively protecting her from the older chickens though. If the older chickens attack, her flock mates will run and leave her behind - they have themselves to worry about. Chickens rarely come to other chickens' defense, except in some specific situations - a mother protecting her chicks, a rooster protecting his flock from (perceived) intruder chickens, or a lead hen breaking up a fight between subordinates. Younger birds (especially females) won't protect each other when higher ranking chickens come to assert dominance. They will submit and run.

 

[Nicci0110]

He sounds like he needs to go then, regardless of the hurt chick... Roosters are next level chickening, not for everybody (and often not worth the trouble anyway). Try reintroducing the hurt chick after he's gone. Often there will be other chickens who follow the bully and gang up on the victim, but if there is no clear bully to follow, they won't initiate anything on their own. Hopefully, your situation is like that and after he's gone (ASAP if possible), the other RIRs chill out and leave the younger chicks alone (the hurt one especially). But keep their tendencies in mind and don't trust them. They may be fine, or they may not... And unfortunately you may not get a warning until it's too late.

That chick being the only Orpington isn't really a good thing... The other breeds can stand up for themselves better than her, so she's still the one most likely to be bullied. The fact that her flock mates like her (as in, don't attack her) doesn't translate to them actively protecting her from the older chickens though. If the older chickens attack, her flock mates will run and leave her behind - they have themselves to worry about. Chickens rarely come to other chickens' defense, except in some specific situations - a mother protecting her chicks, a rooster protecting his flock from (perceived) intruder chickens, or a lead hen breaking up a fight between subordinates. Younger birds (especially females) won't protect each other when higher ranking chickens come to assert dominance. They will submit and run.

He respects my husband because he demands it but I guess I'm not hard enough. But yes.

 

[K0k0shka]

He respects my husband because he demands it but I guess I'm not hard enough. But yes.

Males recognize other males, regardless of the species... and treat them differently... Animals don't care about equal rights