Pecking order

[Flwrsmkmehappy]

I aged mine incorrectly a week or so back when you helped me with a nesting box question....mine a 16 weeks old today and have had their nest boxes up for 2 weeks now so they should have a clue where to make their deposit now!

It does matter, I was going to ask.......because 4 months minus 3 weeks is usually too young to lay. Even 4 months old is a bit young. When they are that young it's best to give age in weeks rather than months.

When a groups of birds first come into lay things can get a bit gnarly, all those hormones surging, they'll settle down in time.
No need to treat a minor comb bleed, it'll heal up fast on it's own.

Wow ok thanks that makes a bunch of sense! They will be exactly 21 weeks tomorrow. That all makes me feel a ton better.

 

[Flwrsmkmehappy]

How many nest boxes do you have and are they installed in a way to provide a darker hiding space?
You coud add some curtains to give them nore privacy.

Does the Rhode Island Red already lay? If not, she might be trying to defend her position as top bird against those already laying as the laying birds would usually surpass the not yet layers in rank.

We have 5 nesting boxes total and yes very dark. I honestly can’t be shire if the culprit Red is laying yet. I haven’t quite seen her. Ok thank you for that info helps me learn a lot!

 

[Flwrsmkmehappy]

The everlasting question is how much space do you have? How do you have the space set up? Often times what was more than enough space for chicks becomes not quite enough space for adult birds.

But often times, the space is just one big open space - really the floor of the run is the only part used. Often times just one feeder, and one waterer. If you are the least bit tight on space, this can seem counter intuitive, but what is needed is a lot of clutter.

Enough clutter, that it is difficult to walk around in the coop. Add mini walls, ladders, roosts, platforms that chickens can get under and on top of. Set up mini walls or crates on their side. This allows chickens to bow to the Queen.

In chicken society, when two birds meet, one bird is the lesser bird, she moves away from the queen, out of sight is best. In an open pen, the lower bird cannot move out of sight, so often times the Queen pecks her again, harder. The Queen thinks she is being disrespectful by not disappearing. I have seen a 6 week old chick, eating by a bird, get a small tap, run away behind something, and come back and eat peacefully beside her seconds later, she 'bowed' to the Queen.

Not only is the victim not getting laying space, I would suspect she may not be getting enough feed. As you add clutter, stick some feed bowls behind a mini wall, positioned so that if a bird is eating at one station, they cannot see a bird eating at another. I have 4 stations set up for 9 birds. I have a multi generational flock, and this makes sure everyone gets enough.

Mrs K

Wow very helpful info!!! We can work on some more clutter and set up some other feed. Thank you for replying and helping me!

 

[Devyn Nagy]

@Flwrsmkmehappy
What's the situation?