What can I do with our aggressive black hens. Any advice?...

[stormylady]

How old are they?? Sparing is natural and important for them to est. the pecking order. Do ya got pictures ??

 

[stormylady]

Quote:
yeah but the girls like to get on that act too!

 

[stormylady]

Just read you orig. post i didn't realize that they were around 12 weeks or so, they def. need more space. and are you sure they are girls?

 

[SilverMoon]

Well I cant show images till I reach a certain level here. I do have I believe two good ones ready and willin for show. Well to be honest I can tell the brown ones are hens because they do look like those Buffs I hear a lot about here. The bottom is all fluffy of the victim. Companion is a bit smaller but has the same golden color. She is growing up fast and such. I wouldnt necessarily say they are 12 weeks probably a little more. They were small when they came to us now they are grown. The black ones have a sheen to their bodies...a little iridescent green to them, one almost silvery.

I think you might be right in one black one being the male. Supposedly that is what the original owners were told that one out of the four would be male. We assumed it might be the biggest fluffy brown Artemis but I dont think so now. It might just well be Silver Or Shadow at this point since one has a pointed up feathery tail end. And you can surely see her red part a bit different. But for the other one...the shortest black tail one to be the start of the aggression I dont know. Once I get more posts I will load an image of them. From sweetness to trouble I dont know what to think. I am grateful either way to all the comments and suggestions. We have them isolated from one another in the meantime. I think the coop will be fixed soon enough. My dad got the floor down so its going to be ready soon

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[moetrout]

You might try removing the most agressive hen for a few days (maybe a week in solitary confinement?). Then when adding her back it should reset the pecking order.....if that is any part of the issue. I got rid of a couple of aggressors and my flock was immensly better. The lady I gave them to had only one hen, but it was much larger than the hens I gave her and she had no agression issues. It worked out for both of us.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
You can upload images to photobucket and link them to this thread for us to help you on gender.

They are establishing a pecking order. I thought it happened younger than this, but I haven't raised chicks.

If you have 4/4 hens you lucked out. Normally you would get at least one roo out of the bunch.

 

[SilverMoon]

Quote:
You can upload images to photobucket and link them to this thread for us to help you on gender.

They are establishing a pecking order. I thought it happened younger than this, but I haven't raised chicks.

If you have 4/4 hens you lucked out. Normally you would get at least one roo out of the bunch.

Actually I do have a photobucket. Thats where I have the ones I have saved. I think when I tried it wouldnt let me till I made enough posts on the site. I guess they want real action and not spammers. Which is understandable to me

. I will respect the wishes and then add pics. It would be cool to know what kind they are and if that alone is playing a roll on both black ones and their sudden aggression.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
You can upload images to photobucket and link them to this thread for us to help you on gender.

They are establishing a pecking order. I thought it happened younger than this, but I haven't raised chicks.

If you have 4/4 hens you lucked out. Normally you would get at least one roo out of the bunch.

Actually I do have a photobucket. Thats where I have the ones I have saved. I think when I tried it wouldnt let me till I made enough posts on the site. I guess they want real action and not spammers. Which is understandable to me

. I will respect the wishes and then add pics. It would be cool to know what kind they are and if that alone is playing a roll on both black ones and their sudden aggression.

Go say welcome to BYC to a few new members

It will go by quick.

Plus everyone likes to be welcomed

 

[SilverMoon]

I have gotten the generalized answer that its all part of the pecking order. I just dont want to see them hurt at all. Right now its just Artemis getting hurt. Serena the smallest golden brown one isnt gettint attacked. Its interesting that I noted she follows the black ones anywhere. It might be where she just learns to accept them as top ranking hens in our order. If I am not mistaken Artemis did indeed attack Shadow or Silver herself and caused a little damage to her ear. But overall the bullies of the bunch seem to be Shadow and Silver. I dont know if the types they are play a roll or not. I will definitely post pics when I get the chance to

.

 

[SilverMoon]

Well as I said here is an image of them. I am going to see if I have any others I might have captured from the few vids I have made. I havent a good camera working right now so I made tons of vids of our little ones since they came to us lol. They became my greatest thing to document lol.