jealous chickens

toasted · « **on:** May 18, 2011, 22:44 »

i bought 3 warrens about 2 weeks ago and they trust me already and follow me round the coop and wait by the gate for me to see them to bed so we get on well, must be the grapes lol

today i bought some more chickens to go with them and they will be my decided limit

i bought a black rock,2 light sussex,bluebell and this little sweet thing i forgot the breed

, the known breeds are all at laying age and look pretty much fully grown and laying but the little one is apparently about 3/4 grown.

there wasnt too much trouble when i added them just the odd bit of pecking to sort the order but the little one looked a bit lost so i sat her on my leg and gave her a stroke to calm her down which it did as she was purring like a cat lol
the original pol warrens got very jealous and kept trying to peck her while i was holding her which i wouldnt let happen

the warrens went to bed in there usual coop, the new older birds all climbed on the top of the coop to sleep so i put the little girl in the other coop on her own for some peace and quiet with no stress, il put them all together in one coop tomorrow night.

so are the warrens just being jealous? or are they just trying to make themselves feel better about not being at the bottom of the pecking order?
sorry about the long post

Pixieswift · « **Reply #1 on:** May 19, 2011, 09:58 »

Hi there, i had that same problem, and still do with my girls, my wee Gladys a sussex bantam is teeny tiny compared to the rest so naturally i want to help her as she is at the bottom of the pecking order. The top Boss my GIANT red sussex is most definatly the boss and insists on being the only one allowed to feed from my hand, as soon as i give little gladys attention the big girl is straight over to have a go at wee Gladys.
If i pick Gladys up the sussex is squaking and running around under my feet, I think giving Gladys the attention make's it worse for her in the long run as im sure when i leave they pick on her more for being the favourite.
I also had to seperate her when she had a respitary problem and i don't think that helped all though i did have a big enough run for gladys to still kinda free range a little with them without beak to beak contact so they could still see each other but i do think this made her feel more excluded from the rest and to top it all NOW she is broody so does not want to come out at all...
Good luck with your girls...

Casey76 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2011, 10:22 »

This is just normal pecking order fighting. You can expect it to continue for about 2 weeks.

Are you able to keep the two sets of birds separated incase one set is hiding an illness the others don't have?

Normally I would recommed a quarantine of 2 weeks for any new birds, as it can take this long for latent diseases to pop up, unfortunately.

toasted · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2011, 11:52 »

cheers for the replys
yes it does seem to get worse when i pay her attention, i looked at a few pics online and i think shes a gold laced orpington.
she isnt getting hammered constantly only if she runs through the group the warrens seem to make a beeline for her but shes pretty fast so other than the odd feather shes ok, she was sat right next to the black rock when the new group had a nap earlier so she cant be that scared or pressured.

i have space to separate them but they seem to be getting on ok without much hassle but do understand the quarantine aspect but they have already been together already so il leave it as it is and keep my fingers crossed.
they all seem healthy with bright eyes and no discharge although the bluebell looks like its bum feathers have been pecked in the past and needs her bum feathers cleaned and il order some flubenvet today and treat all of them, theyv all been frontlined as i released them.

i was planning on getting some meat birds aswell but i think il just stick with the layers as the stocking looks about right to me at 3 msq each and i dont like limiting space for any animal.
il put them all together in one coop tonight, well if theyl let me lol
if i didnt have my dog the little un would be appointed house chicken lol

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jealous chickens

toasted

jealous chickens

Pixieswift

Re: jealous chickens

Casey76

Re: jealous chickens

toasted

Re: jealous chickens

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