What to do with my nuggies

[Bartonsfinest]

**SORRY THIS WILL BE A LONG THREAD**


I started raising chickens last summer I started with 2 black sex links McChicken and Mcnuggets. I was just of afraid of them as they were of me. A few weeks after I got my girls we all 3 bonded.

My McChicken and nuggies pulled me out of a extremely DARK place this time last fall. I will forever be grateful to them for being my motivation to get out of bed and facing the day.


I had two living, breathing animals that needed me to feed them and give them fresh water and treats. I had a purpose and I also kept myself busy with them.


Soon enough McChicken laid her first egg last December. Nuggets laid her first egg in January. Ever since nuggets laid her first egg her whole entire personality changed. She went from being mamas sweetie cake to mamas demon spaun.

Now she is mean to all people and other animals. As well as her sister. In may my husband bought me 6 new baby chicks for Mother's day. Since the very first time nuggets laid eyes on the new baby chicks she's been so AGGRESSIVE and bullies each and every single one.


I thought I was really smart and I didn't just throw the new chicks in with nuggets and a chicken. I put the chicks in a temporary coop that was fenced in that nuggets and the chicken couldn't get to them but could see them the way you know. They got to know each other but couldn't peck at each other. Every chance of gets she would go up to the temporary coop and try to peck any of them through the fence.


We just built a new coop for all of them but it's been a nightmare nuggets won't let any of the other chicks alone. So now we have the new coop and the old chicken coops still up be we're putting the new chicks in the new coop and we're leaving nuggets and her sister in the old coop instead of putting them together.


Are chickens are free range but I still want to run in their chicken coop so you know when they get up really early in the morning they can go out into the run instead of you know packing at each other or anything like that. So I cannot put the new run in until the old chick coop is tore down so it's kind of in my way. I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do, any opinions or any advice anybody has to give me I would really appreciate it. I don't know what to do and I just don't want to shove all of them into the new Coop at night time and shut the door because I have just can't do. I don't feel comfortable doing that so if anybody's ever going through this or has any solutions i would really appreciate it. Thank you so much! I'm sorry it's so long

 

[Callender Girl]

First off, how wonderful that your chickens helped you through a tough time. I know that having critters who depend on you can be the motivation for getting through the day -- or just getting out of bed.

I have not had the experience of a mean hen, but I do have a Cochin Bantam rooster who, once I rehomed a more aggressive rooster, became the meanest, most aggressive chicken I have ever seen.

My chickens live in (too many) coops with runs, but are loose on the property during the day. When allowed to "free range" with the others, Billy Boy would seek me out to attack me, often drawing blood, and he constantly harassed the hens.

Do you have a large dog crate you can fit into the coop? Billy Boy -- who I still wear protective gloves to handle -- initially spent a lot of time in a large, wire dog crate after I moved him into a coop with bigger, more assertive hens that had previously lived with a full-sized rooster. It has taken weeks, closer to months, really, for him to calm down enough that the girls in his coop/run can co-exist with him. This chicken trio does not free range with the others. They have a good-sized coop/run that protects them (the free-spirited girls used to run off and hide in neighboring fields overnight) and me.

I hope you find a solution with Nuggets. Keep us posted!