This is my second flock and so different from the first. Never a single issue with the first flock until they were picked off by overhead predators. Now we have full overhead netting for safety. Long story short: I ordered chicks from a July 8 batch. While I was waiting, I got offered an outstanding 3-1/2 month old rooster. They wouldn't let me have him if I didn't have at least one other chicken, so I went to Portage Bay in Seattle and got a 3 month old hen. The two got along grand. The 7 babies arrived in a couple weeks and eventually were introduced in with the rooster and older hen.
As the rooster got older, he became very aggressive and mean and full on attacked my grandson and then me. (Scar on my leg is still there.) So I got rid of him and things settled down with the 8 hens. He has been gone for quite a while now, since latter part of October, so at least two months. Two hens have started laying. I suspect the older hen (Barnvelder) and the younger Comet/Red Star. At first they were laying in the nesting boxes but now they are not. Or at least one of them is not. She is laying on the poop board under the roosting area. I have two nesting boxes in a larger coop where they all roost and three boxes in an adjoining smaller coop, so no shortage of nice nesting places. I have fake eggs in all the boxes.
Two days ago when I went into the coop, the Red Star pecked at my shoes (shoes are brown). All the chickens seem desparate for treats, which they get occasionally. They don't appear to like their chicken feed (organic layer feed). Today when I went in with a bag of mealworms to throw about, the Red Star flew up and tried to get the bag out of my hands. She was very aggressive about it.
I want to nip this behavior in the bud quickly. I refuse to have a chicken I'm afraid of. The rooster was dispatched within 24 hours of his attack on me, so I'm not inclined to wait long.
The chicken run is pretty large. Maybe 50 feet by 30 feet. There are perches and other fun things for them in there. There is a covered dust bath area. The compost bins are in there and they like to go inside and scratch around in there. (They have really done a nice job on the compost for us!)
Number one issue is how do I get the Red Star to quick being so aggressive? I have already decided to halt the treats (which honestly were not that often) until the problem is resolved. This issue is the most important for me.
Number two is how do I get them to start using the nest boxes again?
As the rooster got older, he became very aggressive and mean and full on attacked my grandson and then me. (Scar on my leg is still there.) So I got rid of him and things settled down with the 8 hens. He has been gone for quite a while now, since latter part of October, so at least two months. Two hens have started laying. I suspect the older hen (Barnvelder) and the younger Comet/Red Star. At first they were laying in the nesting boxes but now they are not. Or at least one of them is not. She is laying on the poop board under the roosting area. I have two nesting boxes in a larger coop where they all roost and three boxes in an adjoining smaller coop, so no shortage of nice nesting places. I have fake eggs in all the boxes.
Two days ago when I went into the coop, the Red Star pecked at my shoes (shoes are brown). All the chickens seem desparate for treats, which they get occasionally. They don't appear to like their chicken feed (organic layer feed). Today when I went in with a bag of mealworms to throw about, the Red Star flew up and tried to get the bag out of my hands. She was very aggressive about it.
I want to nip this behavior in the bud quickly. I refuse to have a chicken I'm afraid of. The rooster was dispatched within 24 hours of his attack on me, so I'm not inclined to wait long.
The chicken run is pretty large. Maybe 50 feet by 30 feet. There are perches and other fun things for them in there. There is a covered dust bath area. The compost bins are in there and they like to go inside and scratch around in there. (They have really done a nice job on the compost for us!)
Number one issue is how do I get the Red Star to quick being so aggressive? I have already decided to halt the treats (which honestly were not that often) until the problem is resolved. This issue is the most important for me.
Number two is how do I get them to start using the nest boxes again?