Why do they leave them alone?

Date sort Score sort
KikiDeAnime

KikiDeAnime

Spooky
7 Years
Dec 29, 2017
4,743
11,580
617
Battle Ground, WA
We have 3 separate yards for our birds. The middle yard has our mother hen and her chicks. I've noticed within the past days that our 2 Ducks & 3 Buff Orpington pullets leave them alone whenever the baby chicks squeeze through the fence into the right yard where they are but our older hens in the left yard will attempt to peck them if the chicks go into their yard.

Why do the ducks and pullets leave the chicks alone?

And before people start telling me that I need to put something up to keep the chicks in their own yard, I'm already working on it. Haven't had enough dry nice days to work out there.
 
A mature hen will be more concerned with resources, and territory. Her instincts are to protect her offspring. Others offspring is competition to their own potential offspring. So some mature hens will peck or even kill chicks that are not their own.

The ducks would be concerned over other ducks, and the young birds don't see the chicks as competition yet, but some will peck at other chicks just to establish that pecking order.

At least that would be my theory.
 
My theory is that each chicken or duck has it's own personality and each flock has it's own dynamics. You can change those flock dynamics by adding or removing one flock member. So individual personalities and flock dynamics plays a part, not that one flock is hens and one is ducks and pullets.

I almost always have a mixed age flock. Often I have a broody hen with young chicks being raised in a flock with an adult rooster, adult hens, and chicks and adolescents of various ages. No ducks, though I have raised turkey with them a couple of times. I hardly ever see a chicken of any age go out of their way to attack the chicks. When I do it's usually some young cockerels and Mama makes short work of them. But occasionally a chick will leave Mama's protection and invade the private space of another older chicken. With some older hens this is not a big deal, they ignore the chick. But sometimes they peck them to send them away.

Something I've seen happen several times, usually when the chicks are about two weeks old. The chick leaves Mama and goes to stand around the feeder with adult hens. Sometimes the other hens ignore the chick but usually it's not that long before one hen pecks the chick to remind it that it is bad chicken etiquette for it to eat with its betters. The chick them runs back to Mama squawking and flapping it's little bitty wings. Mama usually ignores this, the chick has learned a valuable lesson. Don't pester the older hens. But if a hen chases that chick to further that lesson, Mama goes full broody hen and whips butt, no one threatens her chicks.

You have my sympathy with that fence, I've been in that situation. Some things you learn through experience. Are you using wire mesh or some type of netting? With the netting I've had chicks get in through the end if it is not sealed. It's amazing what they can squeeze through. With wire mesh I made an apron, bending the bottom of the mesh 90 degrees and laying 6" or so flat on the ground so they did not squeeze through under the mesh fence. I don't know what you are planning or what your fence looks like but I sure wish you luck on that fence.
 
Ridgerunner said:
My theory is that each chicken or duck has it's own personality and each flock has it's own dynamics. You can change those flock dynamics by adding or removing one flock member. So individual personalities and flock dynamics plays a part, not that one flock is hens and one is ducks and pullets.

I almost always have a mixed age flock. Often I have a broody hen with young chicks being raised in a flock with an adult rooster, adult hens, and chicks and adolescents of various ages. No ducks, though I have raised turkey with them a couple of times. I hardly ever see a chicken of any age go out of their way to attack the chicks. When I do it's usually some young cockerels and Mama makes short work of them. But occasionally a chick will leave Mama's protection and invade the private space of another older chicken. With some older hens this is not a big deal, they ignore the chick. But sometimes they peck them to send them away.

Something I've seen happen several times, usually when the chicks are about two weeks old. The chick leaves Mama and goes to stand around the feeder with adult hens. Sometimes the other hens ignore the chick but usually it's not that long before one hen pecks the chick to remind it that it is bad chicken etiquette for it to eat with its betters. The chick them runs back to Mama squawking and flapping it's little bitty wings. Mama usually ignores this, the chick has learned a valuable lesson. Don't pester the older hens. But if a hen chases that chick to further that lesson, Mama goes full broody hen and whips butt, no one threatens her chicks.

You have my sympathy with that fence, I've been in that situation. Some things you learn through experience. Are you using wire mesh or some type of netting? With the netting I've had chicks get in through the end if it is not sealed. It's amazing what they can squeeze through. With wire mesh I made an apron, bending the bottom of the mesh 90 degrees and laying 6" or so flat on the ground so they did not squeeze through under the mesh fence. I don't know what you are planning or what your fence looks like but I sure wish you luck on that fence.
Click to expand...

The chicks are 2 weeks old as of Thursday but have been squeezing through the fence since the day I first put them outside.
We use this type of fencing: https://www.farmstore.com/product/yard-gard-fence-24-in-x-25-ft

The older hens have simply been pecking the chicks but it does makes Mouse angry and she's actually tried to find a way to through the fence despite being too big to fit.
 
My fence was 2" x 4" mesh. I can't remember how old the chicks were before they did not fit through, but that would depend on whether thy are full sized or bantam anyway.

I don't isolate my broody and chicks from the flock, I want Mama to handle integration for me. But others do for their own reasons, I'm not criticizing you. I often mention this as one of the risks of isolating them. If the chicks can get away form Mama's protection they are at risk, not just other flock members but some predators. I was not trying to keep the chicks away from other flock members, I was worried about predators.
 
My hens all raise babies together. I never separate broody or babies fro. The rest of flock. Even my roosters take care of chicks. My broodies have 2 chicks o e day and 8 the next. They all take a part in raising babies. My babies like to sneak in with goats and ducks they don't bother them either. I guess it all depends ds on flocks personalities. Good luck with your fence.
 

Similar threads

A
Hen Attacking Another Hen's Chicks
Replies
2
Views
324
AshenVulture
A
C
Not laying in nest box
2
Replies
10
Views
480
city_girl_farming
C
M
New hen to flock
Replies
7
Views
657
Mrs. K
Mrs. K
P
    • Like
Us vs them orpingtons
Replies
3
Views
416
RojoMarz
RojoMarz
Chickycammy
Main rooster breaking eggs and calling hens to eat them???
Replies
6
Views
390
MysteryChicken
MysteryChicken

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom