Two issues - not using nest boxes and hen getting aggressive

Gwen

Songster
10 Years
Jun 18, 2009
188
2
151
Langley, Washington
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?
 
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?

I would suggest purchasing fake eggs to put in the nest boxes. Chickens tend to lay if there is already eggs in a spot and by doing this you will teach them where to lay. About the hen; it’s up to you whether you keep her or not. As you mentioned before that they don’t like their feed, I would assume they wouldn’t be eating it or as much as they should be and could be hungry (hence why she was jumping for the mealworms). You could try another feed with them but make sure you introduce it to them gradually so they get used to it if that’s what you choose to do.

Hope this helps
 
Number one issue is how do I get the Red Star to quick being so aggressive?
Have had this happen several times, mostly with hand fed chicks often as they come of age and get spunky. It's pretty easily curbed with calm and deliberate determination.

I peck them back, on the head or anywhere I can reach, with the tips of thumb and first 2 fingers, as hard and fast as many times as I can before they get away. Well, not hard enough to hurt them, just startle them and let them you mean business. That's what another chicken would do, so they understand that kind of communication.

If that doesn't work after a couple applications, I hold them down to the ground with my hand on their back until they submit....again firmly enough to get the job done but not hurt them....add a few finger pecks and/or tug on the feathers on the back of their neck.



Number two is how do I get them to start using the nest boxes again?
Are birds free ranged?
If so.....
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.
 
The behavior sounds like hungry chicken more than an aggresive chicken. If they are not eating, find a feed that they will eat. Is it possible that your current feed is old, stale or moldy?
I get eggs under the roosts in morning when i have pullets new to laying. New hens when starting to lay do not have it all figured out yet, and if that urge happens in the middle of the night while roosting in the dark, well thats why it happens.
Stopping the treets may be a good thing right now.
 
I do have fake eggs in all the nesting boxes. They have been there since before they started laying. Once they started laying in the nesting boxes, I removed the eggs. When they started laying outside the boxes, I put the fake eggs back in.

They don't free range. I let the first flock free range and they were too easily picked off by overhead predators. We live in a country setting. Once they started getting picked off, we confined them (to a *very* large area), but they were never happy after that. They always wanted to wander. So we decided not to free range these but to give them a very large run with plenty to keep them interested.

Maybe she is laying during the night. I hadn't thought of that. Our last flock always laid in the morning time frame (couldn't figure out how that worked out since they take more than 24 hours to lay) but these two are laying all over the place time-wise. We get the eggs in the late afternoon more often than not. I will just keep the poop tray cleaned up so that if eggs do get laid there, they are halfway clean. And hopefully when they are all laying, most of them will use the nest boxes.

I will try pecking back. Also changing their food. They are much pickier than the last flock. They don't like cooked oatmeal (which I like to feed on cold mornings), they don't like pumpkin all that much, they don't like a lot of the food treats I bring. But will eventually eat them. Their food is brand new, clean, and dry, so that isn't the issue.
 
there is no need to remove the fake eggs.
each of my nest boxes have 3 golf balls at all times of the year. it hurts nothing, costs nothing and is just good practice.
i notice my younger birds dont really know a treat like pumpkin or tomatoes are Good, until one of the older birds dig into it with gusto..then they figure it out.
Like... OK, well if she likes it than i guess i want some too.
ever seen a baby chick in a brooder latch on to a piece of straw or a pine shaving and start running around the brooder, cheeping loudly with it. all the sudden EVERYBODY wants a piece of that!
 

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