[mikethebarber]

hi, i have introduced two new chickens to the two we have had since end of september. the trouble is that the two older ones are constantly attacking the new ones, jumping on their backs and pecking the back of the neck pulling out feathers and drawing blood. has anybody any advice. thanks

[chickenlady]

Some people would recommend keeping the newcomers in a seperate run during the day (they wont fight at night in the coop) where all the girls can see each other but not make physical contact, if this isnt possible then make sure there are no places that the new birds can get cornered and make sure you have a few drinkers and feeders dotted around, as this will be an area that will get fought over the most! it can take a few weeks for everything to settle down as the older girls are just making sure the new girls know their place in the pecking order! make sure you are around and have purple spray handy for any wounds as once a hen sees blood it will turn into a canibal!  :blink: good luck

[mikethebarber]

hi, we've had them since monday. We've tryed putting them in the coop together at night, but the two young one's are being attacked before we let them out in the morning. We are trying to free range them but the two older one's are actively seeking out the younger one's.

[dizzylizzie]

It will settle down dont worry. it can look quite nasty! like chickenlady said, alot of people introduce them more gradually, not just to let them get used to each other, but the news ones could be carring something and infect your girls
make sure you have some antiseptic spray on hand, have plenty of food and water dotted about, and ride it out

[chickenlady]

How about keeping the older girls in the run and letting the new girls free range in an area close to the run? only a thought? I have introduced hens on a few occasions and each time it is the same!   just as long as they arent bleeding and are still getting to the food and water they will settle down in the end, it is horrid to watch im afraid.

[joyfull]

This behavoir will carry on until the pecking order has been established I'm afraid. Just keep the purple spray handy at all times like chickenlady said as the sight of blood sends them into a feeding frenzy. After a few weeks it will all settledown with just the odd pecking reminder every now and then. It is horrible to watch but it happens all the time I'm afraid. Hens are not the nicest of animals to each other.

[mikethebarber]

Hi everyone
   Thankyou all for your kind advice. I think being reasonably new to chicken keeping, we just wern't prepared for what was going to happen. We have taken your advice on board and got ourselves some "purple spray" we've got two in a run and two free range at the moment now and got some extra feeders and drinkers. So fingers crossed they'll sort it out eventually
        Thanks again and wish me luck.
                       

[IMOmimey]

good luck. 
are they similar age and size. what breeds? (I had an araucana that refused to live with any white birds!!! no idea why 

[ehs284]

I shout at them very loudly. The aggressors then pretend that they had just been misunderstood and were little angels.  ::)It doesn't solve the real problem of course, but does seem to give the victim some confidence if, for example, they are being chased away from food.

[judrop]

How about keeping the older girls in the run and letting the new girls free range in an area close to the run? only a thought? I have introduced hens on a few occasions and each time it is the same!   just as long as they arent bleeding and are still getting to the food and water they will settle down in the end, it is horrid to watch im afraid.

Hi there we had a similar problem back in September time, and we did just what chickenlady suggests, it worked really well, still alittle bullying for a short time but now ours are a real "flock"
Good luck Ju X

[sallylouise]

Hi there,
I have just went through a horrible stage of 2 of my chickens henpecking the 3rd 
I ended up seperating them for a few days, either 1 was out free ranging and the others in coop and run or vise versa, I used the anti pecking spray but didn't really work. I ended up putting extra things in their coop to keep them ocupied, I put in a huge straw bale and extra food and water stations, some bells for them to peck this seemed to do the trick.you can also get some bird seed pecking blocks which you hang up and the hen pecks at it and gets a reward, I couldn't find any whereI lived, you can also buy some beak bits which you put on their beaks I have heard mixed reviews about these. Like everyone else said it's something they have to go through and it is horrible to watch hopefully it will calm down soon, mine took about 3 weeks to sort itself out   
Sally 

[elzorillo]

Having exactly the same problem myself.

I already had four and I'm trying to introduce another three. I initially put them together and all hell broke loose!!

For the next week I had them separated by mesh and kept putting food along the divide.

For the last couple of nights I removed the divider and allowed them to sleep together but I'm not enjoying the 5am rise to stop them killing each other.

This morning I was 15 minutes late and three of the older lot had a new one trapped in the corner, pecking hell out of her.

I hope there is light at the end of the tunnel.