Sussex won't come in coop due to bullying

[Corinna Morse]

I introduced two new birds (5 -6 months old to our flock of 3 (7months old) . The Black Australorp has successfully integrated after 1.5 weeks, but the speckled Sussex who is slightly smaller is definitely receiving the brunt of the pecking and abuse. She literally will sit on the outdoor perch and will not come in the coop at night. We live in Minnesota and its been very cold at night. So we pick her up, put her on the inside roost and quick turn off the lights. This is somewhat of a pain and I am wondering how long we will physically have to put her away at night. Last night, we tried to put her in with the lights on and our barred rock had her cornered and she fled out the open door to sit on outdoor roost. Should we give her back to the place we got her from? It's painful to watch this bullying behavior.

 

[lazy gardener]

What is the size of your coop and run? (dimensions please). My guess is that your set up is small enough that she can't conform to social protocol, so she continues to be bullied. Social flock protocol: A top dog tells underdog, "Get out of MY space, or I'm gonna rip your face off". Underdog tries to comply. Social protocol says top dog owns all of the space around her to a radius of approximately 8'. So, in a small coop, underdog can't possibly comply. So, top dog proceeds to do what she said she will do.

Do you have a separate safe pen/coop for her? If so, you could put an other flock mate with her for a buddy for her to bond with, then re-integrate the two back into the main flock after a couple of weeks. If it's only one aggressor, you could remove the aggressor for a few weeks, (until the SS integrates successfully) then allow her to join the flock. By then, the aggressor will have lost her top of flock status.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I agree with lazy gardener when she said to remove the bully until the victim has made friends with the majority of the coop. Then, the bully may be less aggressive.

 

[Corinna Morse]

What is the size of your coop and run? (dimensions please). My guess is that your set up is small enough that she can't conform to social protocol, so she continues to be bullied. Social flock protocol: A top dog tells underdog, "Get out of MY space, or I'm gonna rip your face off". Underdog tries to comply. Social protocol says top dog owns all of the space around her to a radius of approximately 8'. So, in a small coop, underdog can't possibly comply. So, top dog proceeds to do what she said she will do.

Do you have a separate safe pen/coop for her? If so, you could put an other flock mate with her for a buddy for her to bond with, then re-integrate the two back into the main flock after a couple of weeks. If it's only one aggressor, you could remove the aggressor for a few weeks, (until the SS integrates successfully) then allow her to join the flock. By then, the aggressor will have lost her top of flock status.

 

[Corinna Morse]

Our coop where they roost is 4 by 4 and probably 5 feet high to the roof. The nesting boxes hang off the side and is not included in those dimensions. The run underneath is 4 by 8. So...do you feel my coop can only handle 4 max? If yes, should I give Sussex back? I hate to go through the pecking order all over again, by placing her in a separate holding tank with the buddy. I could remove my top hen, but she is likely to go back to being top hen once introduced. She is the largest hen in the flock. I have an Ameraucana, a polish hen, and the top hen is a barred rock. I introduced the australorp and Sussex just 1.5 weeks ago. Also, we always clear out the snow so they do use the underneath part!! It just so happens this pic was taken after our storm the other day.

 

[getaclue]

Put the bully in a dog crate for a several days, so it can see the others, but can't bully. This gives the newcomer time to integrate better, and usually provides an attitude adjustment on the bully. When you re-introduce the bully to the flock, they have to regain alpha status, so are not as inclined to bully just the one. IF they try to resume with the bullying, cage them a few more days. Mine usually were fine after 3-4 days of confinement, however, I did have one hen that was stubborn once. It took a full 7 days for her, but she finally got the idea. One time, I got the alpha under control, then the second-in-command took up with the bullying, so she got caged a few days too. Once she was re-introduced, almost all the bullying stopped. Make sure you have more than one feeder, and waterer, and they are not too close to each other, so they can't stop the newcomer from getting water, and feed.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I have a barred rock leader, and she was being mean when I first integrated two chicks AS CHICKS, and what I did was lock the pullets outside in the run, and place the chicks in the coop with one of the pullets at a time. It was two chicks, and when the pullets were alone, they felt vulnerable (even to just the tiny chicks) and didn't harm them. I left them together and gave the head chicken extra time with them, and then I put a hide-y box in (but this only works with chicks) and they would run in their if the pullets tried to snap at them. But you can probably do the cycling through with the nicer chickens, and do something like this but better fixed to your setup.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, I would remove the SS permanently, as a kindness to her. Your coop is too small. If I had that coop, and those birds, I'd sheathe 3 walls in plywood, turn the end wall into hdw. cloth covered window/door, perhaps remove front and floor panels from the coop section so you are left with one larger coop. Then, add a separate run of at least 60 s.f.