Chickens keep pecking each other - please help !

Hi, I have two bovan goldline chickens and one bovan silver (which is younger and only started laying last week). I have been keeping them seperately but have now put them in the same hen house. How can I stop the goldlines pecking the silver one in the hen house ? I'm really worried about it as we have already lost two chickens this year and I'm sure the bullying set them on a bad spiral. They free range during the day and seem to get on with only a little jostling at feed times.

I put some vinegar in their water today - will that help ? It didn't seem to tonight when I put them to bed !

Thanks,

Steve

Thanks Sarah - I'll leave them for a couple more days and see what happens.

Or (if you have the time!) you could stay in the run with them and be the cockerel. Not as mad as it first sounds, it's just like dog whispering. You become the highest in the pecking order, all you do is push down on the back of the hen that is bullying - not hard just like stroking her. She will squat as if to submit to the cockerel, hold her for a few seconds. I did this for a day when one of the newbies was being really pecked and was getting distressed. She now has to have her supper next to me and sits on my lap and I am sure that it speeded up the integration, a matter of a few days rather than weeks. You don't have to pat the girls hard it's all to do with energies and being the dominant energy.

Written down it does sound barmy, but our hens are happy!