[Hooee]

We put a new hen in with our four girls and our cockeril last night, hoping they would sort out their differences, But to my horror this morning all four where pecking her even if she sat and was looking to be submisive, they are free range and locked up at night , so i thought i'd keep them all in their large pen for the day, the new one would get her bearings and get aquainted, but by mid day i couldn't stand the heart renching carnage any longer and let them all out, and seperated but still in veiw the main offender, there does seem to be just the one hen that has a real problem with her and instigates the others, But come this evening when i had to put them all including the bully all back in the main pen , it all went mad again, What do you do, its breaking my heart, !!!!!!!???    my hens are all about 3 years and the new one is 12 wks and a Buff Orpingdon, which i heard that they are not very aggresive which might be the problem... At what point, if any do i have to interveen??? will they kill her what do i do Please help I understand that its a natural pecking order but this really is vicious, how long should i wait..HELP ME Some one please........

[ehs284]

They are frighteningly aggressive, but will sort out a (maybe new) pecking order. Different people have different techniques, but, for the moment I'd suggest keeping them separated by a mesh fence where they can see, smell and hear each other. After a few days give them all a good dusting with mite powder and put the new one on the perch with the others after dark when they are sleeping. When you open the pop-hole in the morning at first light watch them for a while. A little war-dancing can't be avoided, but any real attacks (such as grabbing wattles) the pull them apart and repeat. HTH.

[joyfull]

Unfortunatly as she is so young and on her own she will be bullied - it is always a good idea to introduce at least in pairs this way the bullying will be split between them and they will hopefully support each other. Get the main bully out and into a seperate pen, keep her away from the others for at least a week so that the others can sort themselves out. Do you have any anti peck spray, stockholm tar or something called ukadex? These nasty tasting treatments will often help but failing that get some beakclips and fit these onto the bullies. The beak clips are available via the internet rom the domestic fowl trust and are £1.00 for 8. I have a couple in stock so if you want to pm me your details I can send you 1 with a copy of how they fit.

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, introducing new hens is never easy, but personally i would never introduce a solitary hen, especially one so young to an older established flock. Is there any possible way you can get another hen around the same age to keep the new one company?. i would then seperate them from the rest of the flock, but where they can both be seen, i.e through mesh. I would introduce them slowly over a few weeks, allowing them to observe each other without causing harm. Move their feeders closer to the mesh each day so that they eventually end up feeding 'together' but are protected by mesh.Then when you do put them together, make sure there are lots of places to hide , and there are lots of feeders and water stations around. There will be sqwabbles, have your purple spray on hand, but in a few weeks time, the little ones will be a bit bigger, and the original flock will have had a few weeks to get used to new girls. Its never easy, and lots of people do it in different ways. i have always used this method of introducing new ones, but last time i got 3 big girls, and i put them in with the cockerel, and it was fine.....but they were bigger, and there was 3 of them.Good luck with them, let us know how you get on

[Hooee]

thank's for all your help, I think I will take out the main offender I think and keep her seperate for a week or so. and if she keeps on it will have to be one of those anti peck rings me thinks!! in the mean time try to get another victim to share the burden, We keep our animals about 6 miles from home, and I'm sitting here feeling guilty that I just can't pop outside and see to them.  I feel a bad night's sleep and an very early morning dash comming on..... Thanks again one and all.

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, i really dont think i would seperate the main 'bully' at this point as its not a case of bulling as such that you have going on, you have a single young newcomer (aka invader) to the flock, i would be seperating the new one as the others are simply doing what they are supposed to do, protecting themselves from potiential threats.If after doing introductions there is still one hen encouraging the others to a point that the victim is seriously hurt or prevented from getting to food, them remove the bully as it will reduce her place in the pecking order, but im not so sure its a good idea to do it at the moment

[hillfooter]

There's two reasons hens peck one another.  

1  To establish the pecking order within an established flock
2  To defend their territory they attack interlopers to drive them off.

You should now know why your hens are acting in this way, it's NOT a pecking order dispute.  First you need to establish her as a member of the flock by following DizzieLizzie's advice and then when you finally introduce her into the flock the pecking order will need to be re-established so prepare for a lot of pecking.  I certainly agree you should try and introduce at least two hens not one and they should be roughly equal in ages and certainly in maturity.

Interestingly when you first buy your chx even though they are from different flocks or even breeders they don't have territorial disputes as they have not established their territory and they quickly bond and only need to sort out the pecking order which is usual behaviour in evry flock and not normally too viscious.

All the best
HF