Solving a Fragmented Flock

[CSDeVault]

Here is some background......(he situation I find myself in is most certainly highly attributed to bad decisions on my part as a forewarning).

Last year I bought 8 chicks (2 Ameraucana, 2 Barred Rock, 1 Bufff Orpington, 1 Australorp and 2 ‘production’ black sex links). One of the Ameraucanas turned out to be a rooster. Fast forward to not to long after the chicks reached maturity, fighting and bullying broke out. They have a large enclosed run with coop. The fighting was so bad that I went to check on them only to find out one of the Barred Rocks was dead in the back of the coop. A month or so later I see bullying activity again against one of the black sex links so, fearing that I will have another dead chicken, I separate her in a different enclosure. I also added the one Barred Rock that was left because she was having to much attention paid to her by the rooster she had a bare back. I know one chicken needs at least one other for welling. Problem solved...until…the Australorp went broody and hatched out 5 chicks. A very sad story from there however as a coyote attacked and killed 4 of the chicks and left the Australorp with only one eye (however one chick did survive which just happened to be her egg – another Australorp dominant bird). I rehabbed the Australorop and her chick in a brooder in the garage. I tried to reintroduce the Australorp and her chick to the larger flock (Rooster + 3 hens). Fighting started as the Australorp was the previous matriarch and tried to reestablish her position but with only one eye and the need to keep her eye on her chick (fully feathered at this point), she became the victim of bullying from another hen (one of the black sex links) ….I then tried to reestablish the flock by taking the rooster and the matriarch out of the large coop and have been trying to manage 6 hens in the large coop ‘bickering’ and some small attacks yet still….I am letting them free range and/or putting them in the run but checking on them preriodically…Is it possible to reintegrate all 8 chickens into one flock? Apparently having a rooster causes more intense hierarchy fights…thoughts and advice is welcome. I also wonder if having different breeds causes this issue.

 

[ValerieJ]

Integration can go smoothly or be no fun at all. I think you have a couple different things going on. One is, there is always a reshuffling of hierarchy any time there is the slightest change in the flock, sometimes even when it's temporary. Another thing is, having a cockerel or rooster always complicates the hierarchy. And finally, it sounds like you have at least one very aggressive chicken -- not clear if it's a pullet or cockerel. Who killed the Barred Rock?

If you have time to spend watching the flock, watch and see if there is a clear bully. If so, remove that one. You did the right thing when you moved the bullied chicken out, but it might have been more effective to just separate out the bully. I have successfully taken out the underdog with a friend and reintegrated, but when I remove the bully it is so much easier. Leaving the bully completely alone in a separate run, or some people even just put her/him in a crate in the run with food and water but no access to the other chickens, for a few days, kicks him/her out of the top spot. Sometimes that cools their heals and they become a little better. Ultimately, I will cull an untameable aggressor in the future. I had one such hen get killed by a predator, and after the initial reshuffling, my flock was in peaceful heaven, and so was I.

 

[centrarchid]

Something smells funny on this. Losses may be do to something other than rooster.

 

[ValerieJ]

Something smells funny on this. Losses may be do to something other than rooster.

More likely another chicken (or two), if it was from aggression. It seems to me the cockerels and roosters never really intend to harm their pullets/hens. They are just showing dominance. But, I have had hens quite capable of killing a lessor hen they didn't like. I never allowed it to happen, but not before I had a seriously injured pullet in sick bay.