War in the coop! can you please help!

[Jens Chickens]

Hello,

Last week I added three Isa Brown, one year old hens to my existing flock of six pullets (about 11/12 weeks old). They merged fine with minimal "pecking" order the first couple of days. On night all "war" broke out in the coop. It was a lot of chickens flying and slamming into the walls and a LOT of noises. We turned off the light and pulled the three hens out and put them in the run for a bit while everyone calmed down (including me!)

This seemed to work. When I let the hens back in with the pullets they jumped on the roosting bars and went to sleep happy to be safe in the coop.

All was fine again for a few days and then tonight I went out there to shut the coop's door and I hear a lot of noise coming from the coop. I peek in and one of the hens is completely sitting on one of the isa brown pullets and pecking at it is rear end. I run to get my hubby for this does not look like a social visit. (This was actually taking place on a roosting bar.)

When we get back out there the hen is off the pullet (which is down on the ground). We tried to check the pullet over however it is nearly dark outside at this point and we did not see any blood.

We are able to remove a hen (one of the three which we thought might be a culprit but again it was hard to tell who was being the aggressor since it was dark and they are all isa browns, though in the daylight I can tell them apart by their coloring).

We put the hen in the run and observed the other two. All was fine for the pullets at this point but on the other roosting bar the other hen was pecking at the other hens head (extremely). YES I know "pecking" order is very very very normal but to when it is extreme? Is when is it unsafe to keep the hen? I do have a friend willing to take the hen or hens if need be.

There is some pecking during the day of course (especially when they first come out of the coop and the hens are eager for breakfast!) but for the most part during the day for what I have observed all is fine in the run.

I really do enjoy the hens and love having the fresh eggs for breakfast but when is it unsafe for the pullets? Any advice or help from you veteran chicken owners?

Would I have been better off getting pullets closer to my pullets age? The hens sort of fell in my lap (so to speak) from a friend of mine!

Any input/advice is very helpful! In the meantime I will keep searching forums to see what works for others!

Jenni

 

[Mrs. K]

I think it is too big of size difference. At first, the new hens are not on their home turf, and you have a lot more chicks, so that helped.

But as time went by, then the year old hens think of the place as theirs, and are big enough to be mean to the chicks. Really I don't think this will be solved unless you remove the hens or separate the hens and pullets until the pullets are near the same size, another 4-6 weeks from now.

Another problem, that is kind of sneaky, is the space issue..... what is a lot of space for chicks, rapidly gets to not enough space as the chicks grow up, get bigger and take up more room. Not enough space often leads to fighting and pecking in chickens. It might be that you do not have enough space for your flock.

Mrs K

 

[SIMZ]

I watched a similar show in my coop tonight, too. We recently integrated some young ones in with some older hens. It's not pretty watching one scrawny leghorn defend 6 feet of high roost space. It was like a Jackie Chan movie in there.

Personally, I'd let them work it out as long as no one is being seriously injured. It's horrible to watch (and listen to), but they tend to work it out. One thing that will help is adding some extra roosting space. Are you able to do that? If they really don't have enough space then they can carry on like that every night indefinitely.

ALTHOUGH, since there is most likely a size difference, the older hens could injure the littler ones. So keep an eye on it and possibly do some separating if someone looks like they're being hurt.

 

[SIMZ]

I wanted to clarify something in my post:

Mrs. K brought up the size difference, and that is a very good point. My chickens include hens and also 11-14 weeks olds. There is definitely a size difference, and that can really be dangerous for the littler chicks. In my case, they have a HUGE outside area with lots of nooks and areas to hang out. The coop is also very large with tons of roost space. Even with the roost-hog leghorn taking up a whole roost, there is more than enough room for them to have several feet of their own. Only those that fly way up there to challenge her get thrown around.

 

[Jens Chickens]

Thanks for the input! I don't think we can add any more roosts. I wish I could buy a small extra coop for the hens but hubby says my little "project" is getting crazy since he spent a fortune on making our coop I will try to keep a close eye on them tomorrow and see what is going on and if it is one hen that is the culprit or all of them.

 

[centrarchid]

Can the roost be made more complex? Make so their are multiple points fly up on and so walking from one point to another is more difficult. Different levels can minimize need for additional floor space.

 

[SIMZ]

Thanks for the input! I don't think we can add any more roosts. I wish I could buy a small extra coop for the hens but hubby says my little "project" is getting crazy since he spent a fortune on making our coop I will try to keep a close eye on them tomorrow and see what is going on and if it is one hen that is the culprit or all of them.

Yup.....isn't that how it always starts?! If I only had "one more coop". LOL

I hope things work out and you can find a more peaceful solution. It's always tough trying to introduce new chickens at first.

 

[Jens Chickens]

perhaps I could add one in the corner going sideways? hmmm I will run that by the designer (aka the hubby!) LOL