Roo pecking new hen

[literarychick]

I have an EE roo who has been with his for hens (EEs and GLWs) since hatching. About four weeks ago we successfully introduced 3 Silkie girls of the same age to the flock with no drama.
We had to get some new EE and BO pullets since some of our original flock were Roos. These five girls are 6-8 weeks old. We have kept them in the coop but with wire across so they can't interact, only observe. The "big girls" and the roo have been able to come and go from the coop as they please during this time. It's been a week and a day.

Yesterday we took down the wire. The big girls came and investigated quickly. There was some chatter and such but nothing crazy. One of the little EEs came out and the Roo went mad. He chased her around pecking her and she was terrified as she had no place to escape. She hasn't been out to express the backyard yet.

We couldn't stay to intervene yesterday so we ended up just putting the little girls in the coop and the big girls just stayed in the shade under the coop all day. Then we let the big girls and the roo in at night and there was some squawking and chatter but everyone calmed down right away.

This morning, the same EE chick was chased and pecked by the roo. He doesn't Chase and peck anyone else. Just the one.

We have 2 more silkies to introduce later. They are the same size as the smaller EE. Should we put her in with the silkies and go through the process of introducing all of them again? Or should we stick this out and leave her with the other EEs and BOs?

Should we do anything differently now?

 

[aart]

Wow that's a lot of 'adding new chickens'!

How old are the oldest group?
6-8 weeks might be too young also, it is mostly recommended that chicks are of the same size as the existing flock before mixing.

One week behind wire probably wasn't enough....
.....tho there will almost always be some pecking of newcomers no matter how long the 'see but no touch' intro period is.
It's about territory and resources(food/water).

But living animals don't read the 'rules' tho, and anything can happen.
It's best to have separate enclosures available in case they are needed..and sometimes you have to play it by eye and ear to do what's best for your situation.

Multiple feed/water station, places to hide and get away and lots of space can help in all situations.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[literarychick]

Thanks. I guess we will have to reset the wire wall. Perhaps we will add a hole for the babies. The older girls are 10-12 weeks old, and the little ones are slightly bigger than the silkies.

We have plenty of space (coop is 8x4 with five roosting branches; run is 20x10, but chickens are only shut in the run for an hour or so most days when I leave the house; normal range is 1/2 acre). I also have 3 separate feeding and watering stations.

 

[Mrs. K]

A 32 square foot coop should not have more than 8 full size chickens in it.

You may be able to cheat a little bit in the summer when the days are long, and the young birds are small, but come winter, birds spend the night roosted up, and that is about 14 hours out of 24 hours. At that time they need a gread deal of space so that no bird is within 12 inches of the wall and all are below the ceiling by 12-15 inches to keep water from condensing on them and making them cold.

Do not know how many birds you have in the original flock and you don't give the height dimension of the coop, but you do mention that the grown birds can get under it, so I am thinking that over crowding might be a very real problem by November.

I myself cheat the numbers in the summer. Mine do spend a great deal of the time free range, and I am adding birds as chicks. At first, I was unaware of the tension of the flocks due to inexperience, but the longer I have had a flock - 8 years, I can now sense the tensions rising in the flock in the fall with the days getting shorter and the babies getting bigger. At that time, I have to cull the flock.

Mrs K

 

[literarychick]

The coop is 5 feet tall. Four of the chickens are silkies, so small. There is 21 linear feet of roost space with 2-3' between each roost and the ceiling.

We haven't seen this behavior in the coop; it was when the birds came out into the run when the issue began.

 

[literarychick]

I forgot to say we have a total of 13 birds right now.

 

[Mrs. K]

What does your run look like? So many pictures of runs on here are a empty rectangle space. It looks like more room for the birds, but actually it is less. And it is less socially healthy for them.

In my run, there is a shelter from the wind, an open box with a slanted roof. This is not up tight against the wall of the run, so birds can get behind it, from either end. There is a pallet up on blocks about 3 feet high, with an additional pallet leaned against the west side to provide shade in the late afternoon. And I have roosts in 3 corner of the run. It looks more cluttered than the bare open space, but it actually provides quite a bit more square footage to the run, as the birds can get up off the ground. It also provides hide outs that birds can get out of sight of other birds, or away from them.

One needs to make sure that when designing a hideout, that it does not become a trap. There should always be two exits, nothing up tight against the wall or side of the run.

Adding some escapes such as these can really help a flocks social interactions.

Even if the silkies are smaller, you are pushing the max in the coop this winter.

Mrs K

 

[literarychick]

Right now our chickens have full access to 1/2 acre with tall grasses, pallets, the regular grass (lawn), tree stumps, dirt, etc. When they are confined to the run for maybe an hour a day, they have 3' of room under the coop (so 32 sq feet of shade), two roosts, several pallets stacked and leaned (securely), three food/water stations, dirt to bathe in, and whatever random kitchen scraps we happen to toss out there when I close them in. The run is 8' tall, and they like to fly around a bit and our roo loves to sit on the highest perch and crow. There is no lack of hiding places, food/water, roosting opportunity, or amusement.

My question was about my rooster pecking one chick in particular, not about our space or setup. Like I said previously, I am going to work to provide safe spaces for the chick to escape while fencing the little ones off for a bit longer. It is just one chick and I need to figure out how to keep the rooster from killing her. The others are having no issues.

 

[aart]

Right now our chickens have full access to 1/2 acre with tall grasses, pallets, the regular grass (lawn), tree stumps, dirt, etc. When they are confined to the run for maybe an hour a day, they have 3' of room under the coop (so 32 sq feet of shade), two roosts, several pallets stacked and leaned (securely), three food/water stations, dirt to bathe in, and whatever random kitchen scraps we happen to toss out there when I close them in. The run is 8' tall, and they like to fly around a bit and our roo loves to sit on the highest perch and crow. There is no lack of hiding places, food/water, roosting opportunity, or amusement.

My question was about my rooster pecking one chick in particular, not about our space or setup. Like I said previously, I am going to work to provide safe spaces for the chick to escape while fencing the little ones off for a bit longer. It is just one chick and I need to figure out how to keep the rooster from killing her. The others are having no issues.

Sorry but, when we hear about pecking and integration problems, the first thought is 'what is the space like'.

Why your rooster is targeting one bird....who knows? ask him!...no seriously, it's really hard to say.
Could be that chick is sick and he doesn't want a sick, weak bird in the flock as it can draw predators.
He may just be a jerk.
Sometimes there's just no way to know why one bird targets another.

I have one hen that has been targeted by the roo, he'll pin her down and peck her head...she submits, but he won't mount her.
She seems fine, still laying, has lived with him for a year....he used to mate her, but not anymore. She now hangs out with the 18 week old pullets, who are also 'outcasts' of the flock. I have a couple others bird that peck at everyone, a couple birds that rarely peck at anyone.

 

[Mrs. K]

Aart is right, I apologize for not understanding your set up, but you did say that the chick had no place to escape.

I think I would try the bird with the silkies, but adding a single bird to a pair often times does not work.

The only time I have had the birds of an established flock turn on one of them, that one died shortly.... sometimes there is something wrong that you cannot see, but the flock can sense. However, as Ridgerunner says, they are living things, and can do things differently than expected.

Mrs K