Problem with hens fighting.

[BugGuy]

We might have had an edge finding our roosters as we had over 35 to choose from. We chose roosters that were attentive and gentle with the hens regardless of breed. We ended up with 2 black sex linked and 4 Australorps. None of them cower in a corner and seem to be quite equally matched. The roosters that cowered would have never made it. The other roosters would have taken them out.

 

[rebrascora]

Horace is a leghorn and he is up for a fight but Harry who is a leg bar quickly gets the upper hand and chases and pins down Horace in whatever corner/hiding hole Horace manages to find. Harry is actually lovely with the hens and no problem with me at all and he is gorgeous looking, but he is very dominant and aggressive to Horace. I hate to say it but once Horace produces an heir, he may well go in the pot as he has had several goes at me since I got him and drawn blood on one occasion. I take pity on him when he has had a beating from Harry and then an hour later he has a go at me again, when I go in to change the water.

I think I will leave Horace in the cage for now and just deal with the hen pecking order problem tomorrow morning when I have time to monitor things and intervene if necessary and hopefully make some progress on the hen ark for Horace.

Many thanks for your help.

Barbara

 

[enola]

If you allow a human aggressive rooster to sire chicks it is almost guaranteed that the human aggressive gene gets passed along. Any hens fom this cross will probably be sweet as pie. But there is also the chance that she will pass the mean genes on to HER male chicks.

An aggressive rooster really has NO place in a breeding program no matter how small the ptogram is.

 

[rebrascora]

Ok. I guess I need to make a decision about him going in the pot sooner rather than later then. Thanks

 

[rebrascora]

Well, I let them out of the cage again yesterday, but I left the surrounding fencing in place which they can squeeze through, as it's actually someones old wrought iron gates, but it provides them with a kind of sanctuary. The other hens can also get in but seem reluctant to do so. There were a few fights which were a bit nerve wracking but then the new hens backed down and returned to their sanctuary area. They come out when the other hens are free ranging and my original leg bar has started going in there with them but not fighting or bullying now that they have backed down, so it looks good for those 3 to go into the ark together, which I'm delighted about.
The poor silkies are getting a bit bullied and they are very timid, but they know how to get into a safe place. I was quite surprised that the leg bar cockerel, Harry, who is normally lovely natured, gives one of them a bit of a hard time though. I'm not too concerned about it at the moment though and once he goes into the hen ark with his girls, it won't be an issue anymore. Just about to go and felt the roof and then it's pretty well finished.

Many thanks to everyone who replied for their advice.

Regards

Barbara

 

[rebrascora]

Just to update this thread, the cream leghorns are now getting on well with each other and are integrated into the flock. The silky crosses are still mostly keeping to the cage or the sanctuary area, but come out occasionally when the rest of the flock are free ranging.
I acquired another member of the flock on Tue night: a cream araucana hen with the odd black speck. She is tailed, but has what I would describe as a moustache rather than tufts and is called Tasha as a result. She has integrated much better than the legbars although she is a terror for foraging where she shouldn't and refusing to go back in the hen house on a night. She is pretty shy of me at the moment but hoping to change that.

Anyway, I'm delighted that my flock is growing in size and diversity and are now getting along pretty well together. Just a Marran or two for some chocolate coloured eggs and some chicks when the time is right and that's my flock complete. (For the time being anyway!)

Thanks for the support when I needed it.

Regards

Barbara

 

[One Chick Two]

Hi Barbara,

So glad to hear the pecking order has finally calmed down. They will forevermore have pecking order altercations from time to time. Such is the life of chickens!

However, I am a bit concerned for you that you are putting in new chickens like the new Araucana right in with your established flock. Adding new chickens without separating them and waiting a few weeks is a biosecurity concern (in case you are not aware of how important this wait actually is). With new chickens (even from reputable sources like a breeder) there should always be a 2-3 week separated quarantine period away from the established flock to make sure they aren't going to bring outside sicknesses in. Some are very serious.

New chickens can harbor all kinds of infections, as they are masters of trying to hide weakness for as long as they can. If you haven't already, check your new chickens for mites and lice at the vents (check at night with a flashlight). Check their legs to see if there are raised scales (scaly leg mites can't be seen by the eye.) and do you know the last time she was wormed? Also watch for respiratory issues like coughing or sneezing (etc), or lethargy. Study carefully the new girl's poo- it shouldn't be green or runny. Hopefully, there are zero issues.

We recently purchased a flock of expensive adult French Black Copper Marans from a very reputable breeder. Got them home and saw that the roo had expelled a large dose of Roundworms in his droppings. After carefully quarantining them (we do that anyway) all the new chickens were dewormed some days later, and one roo became so ill (we believe from having such a large wormload) that he soon afterward quit eating and drinking and lost weight- we thought he was going to die. We had to tube feed him (etc., etc.) before he was better. Now, if we had just placed the FBCM in right with the established flock, we would've had them all at least possibly exposed to Roundworm, but it could've been worse. Sometimes it takes awhile for issues to show up.

Anyway, hopefully there are no issues and all remains well.
Best wishes!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi One Chick Two and thanks for the advice/warning

All seems fine with the new bird so far and to a certain extent she is quarantining herself. She has decided that she prefers to roost in the tractor shed rafters, 12 feet up! Her poo seems fine and she certainly isn't lacking energy, as she is quite sharp and flighty. She came from an auction via a third party who bought her for me as she was going cheap (£5), so I don't really know anything about her, which obviously makes the risk of integrating her immediately that much worse. I'll keep a close eye on her, but I don't think I could catch her and quarantine her now, even if I tried.

The others are all laying well. Out of 8 birds that have come into lay, I got 6 eggs on Wed and 7 yesterday and there were 4 when I left at lunchtime with a legbar sitting in a nest box, so hopefully that will be at least 5 today.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the heads up and will remember your advice when I next add to the flock.

Regards

Barbara