[sarah.pinta]

Recently acquired three ex-bat hens (due for slaughter) so they are about 18 months old. Have had these since Sunday so only a week. Was very lucky and I got three eggs on the Monday, only two on Tuesday and then I had one on Friday. I was fully informed about them establishing a pecking order but my god one of my hens is really nasty. Funny enough she is the one with the less feathers which means she has had the toughest time whilst being in a cage but my other two chickens are absolutely petrified of her.

For three hens I have a reasonable size coop and run which could accommadate for 5-6 hens so space is not an issue. For three hens there are two water points and two feeding point all scattered round the pen so again this is not an issue.

Miss Bully as we have nicknamed her just goes for these other two hens all the time, even when they are just milling around in the coop. Internet sites suggest leaving them to it for at least 14 days to adjust and sort there pecking order out but I am worried that 1. the other hens are not getting their fair share of water/food 2. has their egg laying stopped because they are stressed/unhappy because of "the bully".

Has anyone else had this problem and am i just worrying about something that should be naturally happening.

[8doubles]

A week is not really long enough to sort out the pecking order , in fact the pecking order is never sorted and has to be reinforced all the time by a swift peck.
They will probably settle down in 2-3 weeks so do not panic .

[Spana]

I've had it the other way round, where the whole gang seems to hate one little banty.   

[evie2]

I'm going through it too.  It started with just one of my girls picking on the three new ones and has escalated to the five of them doing it.  The worst culprit is the one who's never laid an egg!  The two new bantams manage to escape but the big Orpington is traumatised and just cowers in the corner with her head down like an ostrich

Everyone says to leave them and it will sort it's self out.

[alancane]

I believe it takes a while for them to sort it.... just have some of your purple spray handy to hide any blood from pecks. Maybe spend sometime in the run if you can and feed them from your hand and you can be there to stop the bully and tell her that you are the boss!

The egg laying may have stopped for the trauma of moving, new home etc, give them time to settle and the production should start again when peace has resumed.

[sneezer]

Hi there congrats on getting your ex-batts, they really make lovely pets!! I wouldn't worry too much about the situation at the moment, it does take a while to sort out the order and yes it can get quite nasty, with mine the top order chicken actually doesn't pick on the other two its the middle one who picks on the lowest order hen, although top hen will tell off middle hen if she gets too nasty!

[Jeanette]

They will soon settle down in the mean time if you can put out extra feeders and some more with water it willgive the others more chance to get to the food. Also if possible have places that they can go and escape into i use buckets put on its side and they always use them.