What do you do if two hens start acting like mortal enemies?

[DesertSilkieHen]

I have a flock of six silkies: two roosters and four hens. Everyone was getting along just fine until this winter, when I had to separate out my two ten-year-old hens from the four younger chickens because the old ladies were having a hard time in sub-zero temperatures and needed to be kept indoors.

I kept the old hens inside for a few weeks. When I put them back outside with the others, one of the old hens and one of the young hens started fighting to the point where I thought serious injuries or death were likely. I know that this can happen when chickens are separated and reintroduced, so I divided the run in half with hardwire cloth so that they constantly see each other but can't fight. I thought this would allow them to become accustomed to each other; it didn't occur to me that hens could decide to become mortal enemies.

They've been separated like this for five months now. Every time I try to put them back together, these two hens start attacking each other. Not typical dominance squabbles, but full-on "grab the head puff, pull the neck back, peck at the eyes, leap in the air while making unearthly noises, and leap over anything in their path to get to the other one" fighting.

I don't know what to do! Any advice on how to help them get along again?

 

[nuthatched]

They have forgotten who the new birds are and they don't want them.
How long have they been on either side of a fence?

 

[thecatumbrella]

This sounds like a total nightmare. By any chance, do your Silkies have a lot of fluff around their eyes? I know they can be vision impaired with their poofy heads, and it's possible this is hindering their ability to recognize the hens you're trying to integrate. It could also make them more reactive if they can't quite see what's going on. Just a thought.

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

They've been on either side of the wire for 5 months. Good suggestion about the head fluff! My old hen has the smallest poof and can see just fine but the younger hen is extremely fluffy. That said, the younger hen doesn't attack my other old hen.

 

[thecatumbrella]

That said, the younger hen doesn't attack my other old hen.

Of course. There goes my theory!

Is one the instigator? You could try putting the most aggressive one in chicken jail for a few days (with a dog crate inside the run) and see if the other 5 are getting along.

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

I've tried shorter versions of this and everyone else gets along just fine (after the standard amount of minor initial pecking order squabbles).

When the younger chickens were still chicks, I had an incident where my cranky older hen kept stalking and attacking them (and needed to be separated for a bit). But the younger chickens are now 3 years old and they've all been living together peacefully together until recently!

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

You'd think that one of my two roosters would intervene in the fighting, but instead, they look freaked out and back away lol

 

[chooki]

How are those two hens ranked in the flock, before and after the integration? Did you integrate them in an enclosure or while free ranging. If inside the enclosure, how large is your enclosure?

 

[DesertSilkieHen]

They don't free range (too many predators) but I've attempted to integrate them both in the run and out on the grass (while standing guard for predators). Their current run is about 8-10 feet long and 3-4 feet wide, but in an L shape.

Hmmm it could absolutely be a pecking order problem. Before this winter, the dominant hen has always been my sweet, unproblematic old hen, who is now going blind but somehow still bosses around the troublesome older hen (Archie). I think my troublesome younger hen (Ellie) has assumed dominant hen status in the younger flock.