[Peter66]

Hello all,

I’m new to keeping chickens and I’ve got a bit of a problem;

I bought a large A frame coop from a local farmer who had been keeping up to 10 chickens in it. It’s got a large roosting/nest box compartment at one end and an open run 10 feet long. Unfortunately I couldn’t get all the chickens at the same time so I started with 3 laying hens and then a few days later added 6 pullets (3 to 7 months old) and that’s where the problems started.

The 3 hens had already established a pecking order and set on the new arrivals, so I put in a wire screen 3/4 the way down the run and segregated the hens. At night they all go into the roosting compartment together and apart from a few initial squawks they seem to get on ok. However when I let them out in the morning there’s been a good deal of aggressive pecking and chasing going on, so the hens go back into their segregated pen. (The smallest pullet was particularly singled out and after 4 days is still limping from a nasty peck on the leg).

After a few days of this I tried mixing in the hens with the new arrivals one by one, so 2 segregated, 1 in with the others, a different one each day. This seemed to go ok until a couple of days ago when the 2 prisoners worked out a way to get past my screen (chickens are cleverer than you’d think) and I found one of the new arrivals pecked to death in the roosting compartment (not a pretty sight). So the “girls” are now back in seg…

What do I do next? Will they ever get on, or will I have to get rid of the pullets? As there are open fields I want to be able to let them out to free range, but I’m pretty sure that they need to be a cohesive flock before I can do that. One of the hens (Glenda) is particularly aggressive, will getting rid of her help settle things down? Any suggestions, ideas? Help?

[newatthis]

so sorry to hear  this not sure what to say , but i had the same problem apart from the killing, thankfully my lot are getting on a bit better now, i just put more food bowls down and they have a pen that 12 ft by 18ft i think and i have 8 girls all together, so they have their own space...
some better to help will be a long soon

[newatthis]

p.s welcome to the mad house of keeping chickens...

[Casey76]

Hi Peter, unless the run is 10 feet wide also, your ark is very overstocked.

If kept confined, each hen needs at least 1sq yard of space, but preferably 2 or 3.  This overstocksage will be part of the problem, as when you added the new girls, they have no space in which to escape to or hide out in.

If they already roost together on a night, you may be able to let them free range (could you rig up a pen in the field about 10yds by 10 yds to keep them semi confined for the time being?)

If the pullets have space to escape and hide from the hens, things should settle down soon.

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, Casey is right, you have too many girls in that space. Leave the run door open so they can free range, but get back if they want to, have lots of feeders and water containers so the bully cant guard the food, then if there continues to be one bully, lock her in the run by herself for a few weeks to reduce her place in the pecking order. While they are crowded to this extentent, and have no where to hide/run this will continue to happen

[Jeanette]

You need to seperate the bully from the others for a few days  then she will not be at the top of the pecking order.
  It souds like your run is far to small for that many girls and that will lead to fighting because of the cramped conditions, you aso need to have several feeding and watering stations so that they can all get to food and water. I would also put in a couple of buckets on its sides so that there is somewhere for them to get into and escape.

[Peter66]

Thanks for all your replies.

Taking on board what people have said I’ve increased the available space by building a second enclosure all around the coop and leaving the hatch open during the day so that they can hop out and scratch around as much as they want. (I’ll remove it and let them roam free in about a week’s time).

The good news is that after a day and a half generally things are much improved and there’s much less aggression, although Glenda (who is not the dominant hen of the older ones but seems to be about number 3 in the order) is still violently picking on the youngest and smallest pullet from time to time (and who is the only bird who hasn’t yet cottoned on to the fact that it’s best to get out of Glenda’s way quick sharp as soon as you see her coming). I’m a bit concerned about her as she’s got a limp from a nasty peck and seems quite traumatised as she spends most of her time cowering in a corner.

(Boy, I had no idea of what I was letting myself in for…)

[nicky d]

welcome to the forum, im glad peace seems to be setting in, i would still remove Glenda for a couple of days just to give the little pullet a break, it will do Glenda no harm and prehaps teach her some manners, hopefully when you reintroduce glenda she will be at the bottom of the pecking order.   I feel for you though, wouldnt life be so simple if you could just introduce newbies and they all got along swimmingly,  keep an eye on them all.     Dont forget you have to post some piccys of your girls, its law        nickyx

[dizzylizzie]

The only way you are going to stop this is to give them more space, partly so it gives them something other than fighting to do, but also so the little one has space to run/hide. If you are concerned about injuries they should not be enclosed together. Like most of us have already said, if it dosent improve, you must isolate the bully for a week or two. When you aid you didnt know what you were letting yourself in for, maybe its time to do a bit more reading