Rehoming chickens

[Nicci0110]

It's not too bad, the coop looks 'worse'.
They spend enough time in the run and sleep in the coop,
roost time is the most contentious part of the chickens day,
to cause crowding stress.

That stress does not just go away once they are ranging.
What are the dimensions, in feet by feet, in the coop and the run?

12 x 12 and the coop is not in that. It is raised above the run. I visited my neighbors yesterday and they have mama's raising babies so I didn't think mine would do any better there. My little ones would assume stay in the run all the time even though the door is open and the big ones insist in basically living in the woods other than when they sleep. If I can make it to where my others catch up on growth I think it will calm down.

 

[Nicci0110]

No time to read the whole thread, but I think it’s not a good idea to keep a much larger rooster with much smaller hens in a closed run.
IMO you need more space and more hens of his own size or divide and have a second coop/run for the RIR.

Even though my rooster has been very good to them? It's the hens that are the problem. He actually seems frustrated they don't go to bed with them each night. He won't go to bed until he sees me take them all with me.

 

[Nicci0110]

If your chick has a hard time eating, give her a raw egg yolk no whites. Place it in a small dish and put it up to her beak. She will drink it up once she gets a taste of it.

She did this yesterday but I didn't remove the white. I will try that tonight too

 

[Nicci0110]

If you do decide to rehome the older ones, I would send the lowest in pecking order pullet as well - lower ranked birds are often the most vicious to new young additions because they don't want to fall even further in the pecking order, so if any bird was responsible for the scalping, that's actually your most likely culprit.

So I am not sure who's lower. I have 2. One just stays kinda to herself but is my roosters friend. The other gets pecked by everyone but the one who stays to herself. The one who gets pecked seems far worse with the younger ones but they are both
both vocal and chase them when I am watching. I think with me watching for a couple hours every night I can figure out who the problem is and try separation

 

[aart]

12 x 12 and the coop is not in that. It is raised above the run. I visited my neighbors yesterday and they have mama's raising babies so I didn't think mine would do any better there. My little ones would assume stay in the run all the time even though the door is open and the big ones insist in basically living in the woods other than when they sleep. If I can make it to where my others catch up on growth I think it will calm down.

So the coop is ~4x4?
Yeah, the olders 'own' the coop.
Hopefully the run is predator proof so the ones that won't fit into the coop can sleep out there.

 

[Nicci0110]

So the coop is ~4x4?
Yeah, the olders 'own' the coop.
Hopefully the run is predator proof so the ones that won't fit into the coop can sleep out there.

Yes it is predator proof and I am not sure on the coop size but definatley bigger than 4 x 4 but all of the big ones only use one roosting bar. There are 3 additional roosts. One across from them the same size up high and 2 down lower. I actually bought that clear roofing for the addition and they have metal roofing for the original area. Hardware cloth around as well. Locks on the laying boxes that are also built onto the coop. They also have a solar powered fan and a heater for when it is cold. My husband says he has a plan to add on if we cannot resolve this before we go out of town at the end of the month. I will likely take the injured one with me in a dog crate if you all think that is safe for her to travel by car. But the littles will have their own coop built attached to the addition IF we cannot resolve this. I have been a mess for 2 days crying and not sleeping and he thinks if I let them go I am going to get even worse and I probably would.

 

[FunClucks]

Yes it is predator proof and I am not sure on the coop size but definatley bigger than 4 x 4 but all of the big ones only use one roosting bar. There are 3 additional roosts. One across from them the same size up high and 2 down lower. I actually bought that clear roofing for the addition and they have metal roofing for the original area. Hardware cloth around as well. Locks on the laying boxes that are also built onto the coop. They also have a solar powered fan and a heater for when it is cold. My husband says he has a plan to add on if we cannot resolve this before we go out of town at the end of the month. I will likely take the injured one with me in a dog crate if you all think that is safe for her to travel by car. But the littles will have their own coop built attached to the addition IF we cannot resolve this. I have been a mess for 2 days crying and not sleeping and he thinks if I let them go I am going to get even worse and I probably would.

It will get better, just keep at it. Try not to worry about it too much, you're doing what you can to fix the problem, so it will eventually get better.

I'd look into putting the additional roosts at the same height as the favorite roost - basically you want all the roosts the same height or it causes fights due to pecking order, and you need enough space between the roosts so that the girls can't reach each other from another roost (to prevent pecking). Give them at least 12" of roost length per chicken, so each chicken has a foot of room along the roost. More is better. This will help reduce stress and pecking order arguments.

Giving them more space will do wonders for them and you, I think. At least 15 square feet per chicken of total space within both the run and coop (minimum 4 sq ft /chicken in coop and minimum 10 sq ft per chicken in run). I think the clutter will help also.

I had a rooster that was almost twice the size as some of my girls - they were 3 ish pounds and he was about 6-7 lbs. It wasn't much of an issue until the first winter (they were all born in April) when the girls started getting feather damage due to mating, but I keep mine confined all the time, so I think that also contributed to it. I bought Down Under Outdoors chicken saddles with shoulder pads, and they've been great. As long as your rooster is nice to the girls, it could work out fine with that size difference.

ETA: If your littles have to sleep in the run for a few months while you work on expanding the coop, that should be okay in a predator proof run. Just make them some long perches to roost on at night. Chickens can be fine in temps down to -20F or -30F, so being outside over the summer/fall where you are at should be fine. Mine live in a predator proof covered run (no coop) year round, and did fine in -9F temps this winter. I'm in north Alabama.

 

[Nicci0110]

It will get better, just keep at it. Try not to worry about it too much, you're doing what you can to fix the problem, so it will eventually get better.

I'd look into putting the additional roosts at the same height as the favorite roost - basically you want all the roosts the same height or it causes fights due to pecking order, and you need enough space between the roosts so that the girls can't reach each other from another roost (to prevent pecking). Give them at least 12" of roost length per chicken, so each chicken has a foot of room along the roost. More is better. This will help reduce stress and pecking order arguments.

Giving them more space will do wonders for them and you, I think. At least 15 square feet per chicken of total space within both the run and coop (minimum 4 sq ft /chicken in coop and minimum 10 sq ft per chicken in run). I think the clutter will help also.

I had a rooster that was almost twice the size as some of my girls - they were 3 ish pounds and he was about 6-7 lbs. It wasn't much of an issue until the first winter (they were all born in April) when the girls started getting feather damage due to mating, but I keep mine confined all the time, so I think that also contributed to it. I bought Down Under Outdoors chicken saddles with shoulder pads, and they've been great. As long as your rooster is nice to the girls, it could work out fine with that size difference.

ETA: If your littles have to sleep in the run for a few months while you work on expanding the coop, that should be okay in a predator proof run. Just make them some long perches to roost on at night. Chickens can be fine in temps down to -20F or -30F, so being outside over the summer/fall where you are at should be fine. Mine live in a predator proof covered run (no coop) year round, and did fine in -9F temps this winter. I'm in north Alabama.

Thank you so much! I think our plan is to build them a separate coop for sleeping and divide their run for now. But I have not discussed with my husband. He only told me he had a plan and would do what needed to be done so I could keep them. I am in North Mississippi and it is probably very similar to your weather. In the current coop I have 2 roosts at the top but they are silly and snuggle on one. Even if they decide to no longer snuggle there are 2 more low ones (for the larger chickens like the orpington) and one other that matches what the RIR use. I think the door being shut is what did it as they had access to the run all day before and even ate and drank together.

 

[Nicci0110]

It will get better, just keep at it. Try not to worry about it too much, you're doing what you can to fix the problem, so it will eventually get better.

I'd look into putting the additional roosts at the same height as the favorite roost - basically you want all the roosts the same height or it causes fights due to pecking order, and you need enough space between the roosts so that the girls can't reach each other from another roost (to prevent pecking). Give them at least 12" of roost length per chicken, so each chicken has a foot of room along the roost. More is better. This will help reduce stress and pecking order arguments.

Giving them more space will do wonders for them and you, I think. At least 15 square feet per chicken of total space within both the run and coop (minimum 4 sq ft /chicken in coop and minimum 10 sq ft per chicken in run). I think the clutter will help also.

I had a rooster that was almost twice the size as some of my girls - they were 3 ish pounds and he was about 6-7 lbs. It wasn't much of an issue until the first winter (they were all born in April) when the girls started getting feather damage due to mating, but I keep mine confined all the time, so I think that also contributed to it. I bought Down Under Outdoors chicken saddles with shoulder pads, and they've been great. As long as your rooster is nice to the girls, it could work out fine with that size difference.

ETA: If your littles have to sleep in the run for a few months while you work on expanding the coop, that should be okay in a predator proof run. Just make them some long perches to roost on at night. Chickens can be fine in temps down to -20F or -30F, so being outside over the summer/fall where you are at should be fine. Mine live in a predator proof covered run (no coop) year round, and did fine in -9F temps this winter. I'm in north Alabama.

Also I really appreciate your kind words because I really am doing everything I can for them. Yesterday when I picked my older ones up to drive them across the road I think they knew. The ones who do not like being handled were so sweet and submissive. The big ones had to stay locked all day yesterday and were not please they didn't get to have woods time lol

 

[Nicci0110]

Last night I forced them to all stay in the run with me. I set in there as well and every time anything more than a peck occurred they were shot with a water gun. This seemed to help a lot. I do think I know who the main aggressor is now. But they seem less feisty with the other one being gone to quarantine. I plan to do this every night for a couple of hours and see where we are. If this doesn't work, we will divide the run, do an extra door on the coop and divide it as well for them. They seem less bothered by the little ones now too. Eventually I plan to monitor it where they cannot see me out there to see how it goes then also.