Solo chicken

[Phantastic2001]

Hi,
We had two backyard bantams. Unfortunately one died in November. With winter being so cold (Mass) we waited until April to add 2 more bantams.

We added them (10 weeks old) at night, added extra feeder/waterer. The next morning the older chicken went bonkers, chasing and violently pecking at them.

I added a divider down the run (we have an Eglu Go) so they could see but not peck each other.

2 more weeks have passed and the older chicken is still very violent towards the 2 young ones. We let them out every afternoon for a few hours and all day on the weekends hoping they could learn to mingle peacefully. No luck.

Any advice on how long this will last, or if it's normal? Even better, advice on how to ease the bullying?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Singlemaple]

Maybe you could give them something else to do... say maybe buy a head of lettuce a put a string through it and hang it somewhere for them to peck at? that worked for me when a fox came a wiped out 25 birds i only had 3 left then 2 cause one hen died from old age or stress after that.. so i had a hard time integrating new chickens with a rooster and a hen that i had left...

 

[Firefighter Chick]

Continue with them seeing each other and not giving full access. I totally agree with some sort of food distraction. If the others arent able to hold their own at 10 weeks, perhaps wait until they are bigger to completely introduce them. You didn't mention what sex the chickens are. They may also play a factor. Regardless, there will always be a pecking order and some sort of disorder should be expected until they work things out. Make sure there are plenty of hiding spots in a large area when you do introduce. good luck.