Video of integration: bullying or normal behavior?

[saysfaa]

I think either plan for nights is okay. The way you've been doing it seems to be working. And I don't think they care if their roost is particularly dark or cozy. Something leaning against their roost or stood beside their roost would help them feel safe vs just a roost in the middle of an otherwise open space. Maybe a branch or a chair.

 

[TaylorGlade]

You really need about 10 square foot of run space per chicken. Scattering some things they can hide in may help, as well. Put things there that are big enough for your little ones to get in - but too small for the older ones.

 

[townchicks]

Everyone is being very helpful, thank you so much! I’ll post my big question here again, just in case it got lost on the first page reply.

will take things more slowly as these are the sweetest birds and I don’t want my rush to integrate them, ruin them. Since I posted this morning, I’ve changed the extended run. I added a partition that has metal bars with about 1” space (from an old rabbit hutch). The partition goes from top to bottom, so the hens are fully separated. We’ll be intentional about sprinkling food, scratch grains and treats (mealworms) along this barrier to get the hens to eat near each other. We’ll still let them free range for short times to mingle together, and lengthen this time as time goes on. My big question that I still don’t know how to handle nights. Do I still keep the habit of putting the pullets in at night after dark, and getting up at sunrise to separate them soon after wake up? Or for now, can they sleep in their extended pen? It’s predator proof, but not dark and cozy.

Also, if and when I do see aggressive behavior, is there anything I can do?

Really, 4x4 is just right for 4 adult hens. It may be working now, with you running out to release them every morning, but that is going to be hard to keep up. You may need to enlarge your coop, or consider a small second coop for the pullets. Maybe convert that old rabbit hutch. Then, even after you have integrated them, they can choose to roost in either coop if they feel crowded.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is 4’ really that narrow? It’s 4 hens and 2 bantams. Honestly asking…

Yes, and the reason is birds have a personal bubble of around 5-6'. So as you can imagine, if the run is 4' wide, it gives lower ranked birds zero space to get by without the higher ranked bird taking offense. They're initiating a chase simply because they can't squeeze by. This is why a square run is better than a rectangular one, and plenty of clutter is helpful during integration so birds can break off a chase by breaking line of sight.

 

[ljkraemer]

Yes, and the reason is birds have a personal bubble of around 5-6'. So as you can imagine, if the run is 4' wide, it gives lower ranked birds zero space to get by without the higher ranked bird taking offense. They're initiating a chase simply because they can't squeeze by. This is why a square run is better than a rectangular one, and plenty of clutter is helpful during integration so birds can break off a chase by breaking line of sight.

This makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing. We have the ability to create a larger square run and are thinking of doing this. My concern with this is as a previous person commented, the bottleneck where the run connects to the coop. Still should be better than what we have now though.

 

[rosemarythyme]

This makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing. We have the ability to create a larger square run and are thinking of doing this. My concern with this is as a previous person commented, the bottleneck where the run connects to the coop. Still should be better than what we have now though.

Most set ups have some bottlenecking somewhere (single pop doors being the most obvious). As long as lower ranked birds have somewhere else they can go most of the time instead of shuffling by in tight quarters, they should be fine.

Hopefully expansion will solve most of the issues!

 

[ljkraemer]

Hello everyone, following up with an update and question. The two silkie mixes have been integrated with the 4 older hens for almost 3 weeks. We doubled the run from 4x10 to 8x10, as well as added a second door from the coop to the run, so no more bottle neck issue. Things go quite well during the day. The two silkies will occasionally get pecked as they go by an older hen, but this is minimal and most of the day they coexist peacefully. The eat and drink and free range like normal hens.

The issue we’re having is in the coop at bedtime. The following descriptions come from me observing the camera in the coop. The silkies have learned they need to wait for all thek older hens to get settled in their spots before enLtering the coop. If they come in too early, an older hen will jump down and chase them out. Eventually, the silkies will jump up, find a spot, settle in, and all is good. This would be a “good night”. We’ve had maybe 2 good nights in 3 weeks. What usually happens is that Montana, the head hen, will shift her spot in the roosting order and sit next to the silkies and peck, peck, peck at them until they jump down. In the process of Montana shifting her spot, the other 3 hens then get up and shift their spots to be next to her. (We have a cross-shape roost bar set up.) the silkies will jump up as far away as possible from Montana and this usually means they’re near the Polish hen, the lowest hen on the pecking order, who leaves the silkies completely alone. This peck, peck, peck (sometimes for 2 minutes before the second silkie finally gives in and jumps down) and hen shifting spots routine is how most nights have gone in the last few weeks. The last two nights however, the silkie that is left (one usually jumps down pretty quick once Montana starts pecking), has “stood her ground” and not moved. Montana pecked for over 3 minutes, was quiet, pecked again, was quiet, pecked again, etc over about 10 mins. Eventually everyone slept and the lone silkie slept next to Montana all night. The last two nights we’ve not been home to help assist in the bedtime routine (aka watch it on camera) , otherwise I would have intervened and moved the lone silkie away from the constant pecking.

My questions are:
1. If a sub-hen is getting picked repeatedly, why in the world wouldn’t they jump down/move away? She had room. She wasn’t stuck. Was she making a point? I don’t get it.
2. Is there anything I can do to make the coop integration go easier? Mix up the roosting bars? Make sure I never miss bedtime supervision for the foreseeable future? Intervene like I have occasionally? Let them be completely? Sequester Montana in a dog crate overnight for a couple nights? What do I do/not do?

My friend pointed out: if we didn’t have cameras, we’d have no idea any of this scuffle was happening. There is no bleeding, no bald patches. The silkies aren’t hiding in the coop all day or cowering away from the older hens when out in the run. So is this bullying or just normal integrative woes?

I’m happy to post a video link if it’d help to see it, but I hope my description above was enough to convey what’s going on.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My friend pointed out: if we didn’t have cameras, we’d have no idea any of this scuffle was happening. There is no bleeding, no bald patches. The silkies aren’t hiding in the coop all day or cowering away from the older hens when out in the run. So is this bullying or just normal integrative woes?

It's normal, actually. Even a well integrated flock has "roost time rumbles" and birds will squabble and fight nightly over preferred sleeping spots. As long as there's enough roost space for all the birds (linear ft and if there's multiple roosts, they're far enough apart to prevent picking) then they're free to decide where they want to sleep.