One mean hen

[ceeceerod]

I am raising 6 chicks (3 buffs and 3 dixie rainbows) and they are my babies, very docile (oops I spoiled them too late now). I had 4 adult hens- 2 mixed bantams, 1 Rhode Island Red, and 1 Plymouth Barred Rock. The 2 mixed hens were just plain mean and rotten and I got rid of them yesterday to another bird lover. The Plymouth is a big scaredy hen but the RIR is still mean to the chicks. She is a broody hen and brooding as we speak. I have her separated from everybody and my question is this- will she ever be nice to the chicks? Should I get rid of her too? The chicks are about 13 weeks old and they cant seem to figure out how to stand up to her bullying ways.

 

[sandysylvester]

Looking forward to the replies. Mine are 13 weeks this weekend. My one older is puffing up defensive posture to everything and chasing the crap put of the younger crew. Not sure they will ever mix! I am on the fence on what to do. Take comfort, you are not alone!

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you are seeing is probably totally normal and natural. You are dealing with living animals so it’s hard to give an answer that covers 100% of the cases, but mature chickens always outrank immature chickens in the pecking order and are usually not shy in enforcing those rights. They can be bullies when given an opportunity. They will be what you call “mean” to those chicks until the younger ones mature enough to force their way into the pecking order.

What normally happens is that the mature hens will peck or even attack the immature chickens when the younger chickens invade their personal space. When pecked, the younger chicken runs away. There may be some chasing involved to drive the message home, but social order is restored. Occasionally you will get a hen that will go out of her way to be brutal to the younger but not as often as many people believe.

The immature chickens usually form a separate flock. They quickly learn if they invade the personal space of the older hens they will get pecked.

A very important part of this is that they have room to run away or just avoid to start with. If space is so tight the chicks can’t get away, the hen doesn’t know she has defended her pecking order rights. She thinks the younger chick is defying her and trying to take away her pecking order rights. The more room they have the easier this process goes. The less space you have, the more dangerous it becomes.

One potential problem area is the coop while they are settling down to sleep. My hens tend to be more brutal then, probably because the younger have fewer options as far as avoiding the bullies. I went so far as to build a separate roost away from the main roosts and a little lower down so the younger could find a safer place to sleep that was not in my nests.

Younger chicks grow up with the flock all the time. I have six 20-week-old pullets that still avoid the older hens on the roosts but are hanging with them more and more during the day. I have 13 6-week-olds that the broody weaned last week that are living with the flock on their own. The older ones don’t bother them during the day unless they invade their personal space, but the young ones pretty much avoid the older ones. At night, they sleep on the floor in a corner, well away from the adults. And I have a broody with eight 1-week-olds that is raising them with the flock. She’s teaching the other adults and the other chicks to not mess with her babies.

You are dealing with living animals. It is always possible you have a hen that is a total brute that will go out of her way to seek out and destroy any weaker chicken, but those hens are fairly rare bas long as the younger have room to run away or avoid to start with.

I normally have eight week old brooder raised chicks roaming with the flock without any problems. My brooder is in the coop and my grow-out pen is right next to the flock. My broodies often wean their chicks at 4 weeks and those chicks share space with the adults, though they form a separate flock. But I have lots of room. If your space is tight you may be a lot better off keeping your younger chicks separate (though house them side by side if you can at all) until they are fully grown. Even then, more space will help with integration because they still have to sort out the pecking order.

Something else that might be going on. It sounds like you may have just introduced those younger ones to the older hens. Chickens can recognize which chickens belong in their flock. They might attack any strange chickens that invade their flock’s territory. Again, this does not happen all the time but it happens often enough to be a concern. This is where housing the new chickens next to the older chickens for a week or more before you allow them to mingle can really help. Keep a fence between them where they can see each other but cannot attack each other. This doesn’t always work but it often makes a huge difference.

A lot of us integrate chickens all the time. We each have our own unique flocks and unique situations. What works for one person will not work for another because of these differences. Good luck in sorting yours out.