One hen, adding another

[bobbi-j]

You'll learn to temper those emotions...somewhat.....as you get a better understanding about their social structure.
One thing that helped me was observing that even tho one gets what looks like(and sometimes is) a viscous peck and they run screaming bloody murder,
most times 2 seconds later they are waddling along pecking away at the ground like it's no big deal.....often right back very near where they received the peck..

Agreed. Chicken society ain't all cute and fluffy. Often times, it can seem pretty vicious. But, as Aart says, they seem to get over it quickly.

 

[aart]

Quote: I don't know how many times I've seen a bird pecked, even chased, away from some goodies...they run squawking, and then 'sneak' right back to the goodies...leery and watching the aggressor closely mind you, but going right back.

 

[slave2hens]

I don't know how many times I've seen a bird pecked, even chased, away from some goodies...they run squawking, and then 'sneak' right back to the goodies...leery and watching the aggressor closely mind you, but going right back.

Thanks again @aart today was a lot better, they were out for most of the day, and the scuffles were fewer and further between.

Winnie falling into the 1970's ornamental pond probably helped, how do you keep any dignity after that....

Funny thing was, whilst Winnie was on the perch (I think trying to dry off) Tilly jumped up and seemed to keep trying to get underneath her, head first.

After a couple of hours normal service was resumed and Tilly spent the evening on top of the temp house. Winnie went to bed first, then Tilly came down, had something to eat, and walked up the steps of the main (Winnies) house, then went back to the temp house, I gave her a shout and put her in the main house but she went out the front and back into her own house within about 5 seconds.

 

[slave2hens]

Thank you all for your help. I'm not sure if Winnie falling in the pond last Sunday had any effect, but they were a lot better during the week, apart from the odd tantrum from Winnie before bedtime, which I am assuming is because Tilly was staying out late.

Tilly stuck her head in the hen house most nights this week then went to her temp house, so I removed that yesterday and last night after a dozen sorties she went in and stayed in the house.

Tonight she got the usual pecking before bedtime because she wasn't in bed, but went in to the house a bit later and hasn't been out since.

I should point out over the last ten days although the pecking seems vicious and Tilly is totally dominated (although she does peck Winnie's legs when getting pecked sometimes) there's only been one feather found in the run. It looked awful but fingers crossed no real harm.

I think the two weeks seeing each other seperated helped, and it was no where near as bad as I thought, and all the worrying stuff was over within two days. I'm conscious that I started this thread because there's hardly any advice out there for adding one to one, I've done it twice now and the easiest one was last time when I put the new one in the hen house at night, they got over it in a day. This time was harder because it appeared more extreme, that could be because of the personalities involved, or it may have just been easier to put the new one in at night -- as everyone says, each situation and chicken is different.

Again, thank you all for your help.

Now, where's the thread on adding a third hen to two established.........