Why are my chickens aggressive at night when roosting?

[Annalyse]

More space is making it larger..... or did I miss something?

Sorry I meant moving and removing things

 

[thepick4uchicks]

The coop is built attached to the giant run. The run is big and doesnt need to be bigger but the coop I wont be able to make bigger so I'm trying my best with moving things around and making it as spacious as possible.

I know that sometimes your situation is just what it is. Do you think you could just remove feed to outside in the run and keep a water station in the coop for good practice but just leave feed outside the coop only to cut down on squabbles also and give you a little more space? Unless they are going to be locked up in there and not let out for some reason feeding should be left as an out of the coop activity anyway. It reduces the chance that rodents become attracted to the coop area or bugs and the chickens know that’s an activity meant daytime and sleeping is an inside the coop activity. You can store feed in the run in a plastic tub if it is cool to cold weather and it is a thick locking kid type tub that rats cannot chew through if they can get into your run and coop. I store my feed in my coop in cool weather because I have a large coop for the amount of birds I have and also they need and stop over spot or a leg up sometimes to help my bigger Orpingtons get up on the top roost bars and they will use the tub to make a pit stop up from the floor to avoid a leg sprain. Unless I have extra bales of shavings handy they will use those also. Again I only have nine girls and a really large coop for them. So what you can remove to give yourself space will really help yourself and them out a great deal. My girls are almost 21 weeks and they still want to sleep clumped together in a big ball almost. So their sleeping habits haven’t changed much since they were very small. If yours are similar you might look into removing some of your roost boards if they are not spreading out and putting them to good use. IDK it’s just a thought. You would have to really observe them and see if by their habits over a few days and nights that you did or did not have wasted space according to what they were doing. Either way I wish you and your flock the very best my dear!

 

[Backyardchickengirl]

Every night I have to deal with the hens either pecking really hard at each other or biting/pecking there feet hard and I have to keep intervening. It's always when there roosting. I mean throughout the day yes they are a little bit like dont touch my food or they hate sharing lol. Well my silkie sleeps alone on the second roosts bc they always pack and bully her so she gets hurt and I have to keep her safe. Any ideas why to any of this lol i dont know

 

[Backyardchickengirl]

I have 6 hens and 1 rooster. My rooster is the one I have to intervene because when he pecks there feet, he pecks hard and cause blood sometimes.

He should be separate!

 

[cmom]

I have no issues with my males. There are some coops where I have more than one male. So far all is good here. Maybe replace your male. Good luck...

 

[Annalyse]

He should be separate!

Why? he does just fine

 

[Annalyse]

I know that sometimes your situation is just what it is. Do you think you could just remove feed to outside in the run and keep a water station in the coop for good practice but just leave feed outside the coop only to cut down on squabbles also and give you a little more space? Unless they are going to be locked up in there and not let out for some reason feeding should be left as an out of the coop activity anyway. It reduces the chance that rodents become attracted to the coop area or bugs and the chickens know that’s an activity meant daytime and sleeping is an inside the coop activity. You can store feed in the run in a plastic tub if it is cool to cold weather and it is a thick locking kid type tub that rats cannot chew through if they can get into your run and coop. I store my feed in my coop in cool weather because I have a large coop for the amount of birds I have and also they need and stop over spot or a leg up sometimes to help my bigger Orpingtons get up on the top roost bars and they will use the tub to make a pit stop up from the floor to avoid a leg sprain. Unless I have extra bales of shavings handy they will use those also. Again I only have nine girls and a really large coop for them. So what you can remove to give yourself space will really help yourself and them out a great deal. My girls are almost 21 weeks and they still want to sleep clumped together in a big ball almost. So their sleeping habits haven’t changed much since they were very small. If yours are similar you might look into removing some of your roost boards if they are not spreading out and putting them to good use. IDK it’s just a thought. You would have to really observe them and see if by their habits over a few days and nights that you did or did not have wasted space according to what they were doing. Either way I wish you and your flock the very best my dear!

Thank you. I have my feed in a big tin garbage can and it is stored were nothing can get to it. I refill there feed everyday so that's not a problem. and yes im going to keep the water in the coop in case but when winter hits I will try and keep it in the coop if its frozen otherwise I dont want moisture in there

 

[Annalyse]

hes fine

 

[NatJ]

You said your rooster pecks hard at the feet of the other chickens, and that he draws blood.
That is why one person suggested separating the rooster, and another suggested replacing him with a different rooster.

A rooster pecking hens so hard that he draws blood is NOT normal. It means something is wrong--either with the rooster or the conditions.

 

[Annalyse]

You said your rooster pecks hard at the feet of the other chickens, and that he draws blood.
That is why one person suggested separating the rooster, and another suggested replacing him with a different rooster.

A rooster pecking hens so hard that he draws blood is NOT normal. It means something is wrong--either with the rooster or the conditions.

Hes only drawn blood once and has improved. He is young and doesnt have an older rooster to learn from.