One grumpy hen, one broody mum and three chicks

[slave2hens]

One day I hope to be able to answer questions, but for now I have (another) one... I had two hens, one went broody (third time in a year) so I accepted defeat and separated her, got her some eggs to sit on (and keep her quiet). She's hatched 3 chicks who are now six weeks old. They're in a separate run to her old playmate, with wire between (they have been for three weeks now). I let them all out for an hour or two each day, and the hen who's been on her own for two months is fine most of the time, but then for no apparent reason starts chasing/pecking at the chicks, She was always a bit mean with the other one but seems to be transferring this to all four now.

Two of the chicks seem to be roosters but she's not picking anyone out especially, she just goes after one and pecks at them. It's always supervised so I put her back in her play room if she doesn't give up fairly quickly.

I really need to remove the wire between them all so they all get a bit more space, but I'm not going to be able to watch over them all of the time. Sooner rather than later Mum is going to get fed up of the chicks and I'm totally at a loss what to do next.

It was a mistake splitting two up originally, so any suggestions how to recover this error would be appreciated.

Basically how do I introduce one hen and three chicks back to a grumpy hen....

 

[nchls school]

One day I hope to be able to answer questions, but for now I have (another) one... I had two hens, one went broody (third time in a year) so I accepted defeat and separated her, got her some eggs to sit on (and keep her quiet). She's hatched 3 chicks who are now six weeks old. They're in a separate run to her old playmate, with wire between (they have been for three weeks now). I let them all out for an hour or two each day, and the hen who's been on her own for two months is fine most of the time, but then for no apparent reason starts chasing/pecking at the chicks, She was always a bit mean with the other one but seems to be transferring this to all four now.

Two of the chicks seem to be roosters but she's not picking anyone out especially, she just goes after one and pecks at them. It's always supervised so I put her back in her play room if she doesn't give up fairly quickly.

I really need to remove the wire between them all so they all get a bit more space, but I'm not going to be able to watch over them all of the time. Sooner rather than later Mum is going to get fed up of the chicks and I'm totally at a loss what to do next.

It was a mistake splitting two up originally, so any suggestions how to recover this error would be appreciated.

Basically how do I introduce one hen and three chicks back to a grumpy hen....

Remove the wire and watch. Most hens are happy showing their dominance in making the chicks run helter skelter. If there's room the chicks will be fine. All of my hens are doing this with all the teenagers in the bird room and it has been going on ever since the broody hens stopped caring for the chicks (for the most part). None have been hurt in any way and the behavior is becoming less with the hens. Now it's the young roosters trying to be dominant over the older hens. I watch. Most times the chickens work it out and all is fine. Its roosters picking on roosters that can really be mean and dangerous. But if you take down the wire pick a day when you can observe and separate them if the pecking starts to get too physical.

 

[slave2hens]

Thanks for the reply and your help nchls school, I removed the wire, Ms Grumpy got used to them fairly quickly as long as they stayed out of her way. One of the roosters became fairly vocal (at half four in the morning and then for the rest of the day) and fairly nasty with the other two chicks.

Took all three of the chicks (8 weeks old now) to a farm last weekend who were happy to have them - Ms Grumpy and the mum are back to normal after a couple of days and I'm a lot less stressed!

Odd thing is, I've read that temperature can determine which sex of chickens hatch, out of six eggs I ended up with 3 roosters and 3 eggs abandoned, guess she wanted to look after the boys before the girls arrived. I've learnt so much in the last 12 weeks - the main one being 2 hens are more than enough for the time being!

 

[nchls school]

Thanks for the reply and your help nchls school, I removed the wire, Ms Grumpy got used to them fairly quickly as long as they stayed out of her way. One of the roosters became fairly vocal (at half four in the morning and then for the rest of the day) and fairly nasty with the other two chicks.

Took all three of the chicks (8 weeks old now) to a farm last weekend who were happy to have them - Ms Grumpy and the mum are back to normal after a couple of days and I'm a lot less stressed!

Odd thing is, I've read that temperature can determine which sex of chickens hatch, out of six eggs I ended up with 3 roosters and 3 eggs abandoned, guess she wanted to look after the boys before the girls arrived. I've learnt so much in the last 12 weeks - the main one being 2 hens are more than enough for the time being!

You're welcome. After scraping and cleaning the coop all afternoon I wished I had just two; for a little while.