by Donna McGlasson from Gardens & Chickens & Worms, Oh My!
Wow! I thought I had such sweet girls! Mildred, Mabel and Pearl, my first three girls have had a few squabbles here and there but have always hung out together and been friends. Apparently things are changing.
My Three Girls in March 2013
Mabel, my barred rock, has always been top hen. However, in May she went broody. By the beginning of June, I gave her fertile eggs to hatch. During this time I would take her off the nest a few minutes each day to stretch and eat. No problem, everybody got along fine.
Mabel gone broody at the end of May 2013
My new chicks, Alice and Myrtie were born June 25 & June 27, respectively. Mabel and the chicks have been in one side of the small run in view and only separated by hardware cloth, a couple of days ago, I started letting Mabel out of the area by herself to stretch and scratch around. Her babies are in sight.
Alice
Myrtie
Pearl thought she would try being top hen so they postured and pecked one another. Mabel lost quite a bit of weight during her broody season so she is somewhat skinnier now than she used to be. I separated she and Pearl not wanting anybody injured.
Today, I tried again. This time Mildred not only pecked Mabel and postured, she also jumped on her. Mabel did fight back at first but again, I was afraid of injury and separated them. I am forever aware of reading another blog where they thought a new chicken was fitting in but she was pecked to death. Makes me shudder to think about it.
Mildred & Mabel posturing with each other
Below Mildred was posturing above Mabel. I couldn’t get a very good angle before she jumped on Mabel so the photo isn’t that good. I was also anxious not to have a full on brawl.
Since Mildred and Pearl also try to peck the chicks I will need to set up some kind of different enclosure in the big run when the chicks get a little older and try integrating them along with Mabel. This will hopefully make for a more peaceful relationship between chickens.
The thing to remember about pecking or in my case, re-ordering of pecking order is that while it’s a normal process, it can sometimes be detrimental to the chicken lowest in the order. Keep a close eye on your chickens when integrating new members. Keep an eye on behaviors.
Several ways to integrate are:
The thing to remember about pecking or in my case, re-ordering of pecking order is that while it’s a normal process, it can sometimes be detrimental to the chicken lowest in the order. Keep a close eye on your chickens when integrating new members. Keep an eye on behaviors.
Several ways to integrate are:
- Sit with your chickens or keep a close eye on them while they are together. Expose them to each other for longer times each day
- Make sure to keep them separated at night until the pecking order or new pecking order is well established and everyone knows there place
- Most pecking orders work themselves out but keep mind that re-homing the bully could be necessary to save a chicken’s life and keep peace in the flock especially if you intend to keep adding new members
- Finally, if you can have a rooster, he will generally keep his “girls” in line and not allow fighting.
2 Comments
Your welcome!
Thanks!