aggresive chickens

karen.ongleysnook · Post by **karen.ongleysnook** » 07 May 2007, 10:30

:( Hi , I've just aquired 4 ex-battery hens , they have a fab house with extention ( I wish I did !!) aparantly large enough for 8, they are given the run of the garden when we are around, sadly too many brave cats and foxes, one fell off her perch and had to see a vet, still limping but doing ok, there is one other that is quite small and timid, these 2 have been really badly beaten up by the other 2, when they are in the garden they are ambushed, they land on their backs and peck them,so the weak ones follow me about and hundle in corners, I have now seperated the 2 pairs durring the day, they can still see each other but it means no fights, it all kicks off again when they go out, they all sleep in the coup at night, but unless the little ones get in first, they are kept out and need help to get to bed, they end up squashed together in 1 nest box whilst the 2 bullies roost happily ( there are 4 nest boxes and lots of roosting posts, ) I'm at a loss of what to do, we are getting 2 eggs aday from the toughies but not surprizingly non from the weaker pair. Any ideas ?

Post by **wendy** » 07 May 2007, 11:19

Hi Karen.
It is a problem that we all have at the beginning.
Most of my friends with ex battery hens, find it is the beaten up ones that are the worse, at bullying usually.
I had to seperate the one that was being bullied for a good few weeks in the run. I made her, her own little house, so she could lay eggs in and at dusk she would go on there as the others went to the hen house. When I went out to shut them in I just popped Priscilla in with them. When free rangeing it wasn't too bad as she could get out of the way. I have had them 18 months now, and all is calm.
Wendy

PetHeaven · Post by **PetHeaven** » 07 May 2007, 14:40

Hi karen, I've had my ex bats about 6 weeks now, and had some trouble with bullying. I got two big healthy feathered birds and one skinny little bald bird. The skinny featherless one was beaten up by the others. I had to separate them too, as the little one was not let feed or drink and they chased her into corners and into the house to beat her up-it was terrible and she was fading fast. I contacted the BHWT to see if they could help and they gave me excellent advice. It seems that for my three girls, the one without the feathers was seen to be in moult by the others and that means in chicken language that she's the lowest bird in the pecking order. I was advised to keep them separate until she got all her feathers, then let them out of the run separately and make sure they all know the garden well. Then when its time to start the introductions again, do so a while before bedtime, supervised only (get ready to stop any bullying) out in the garden. Eventually they should start to accept each other and live in chicken harmony. I'm just about to start introductions -so cant tell you how it goes yet! Its very stressful, but hope you find a solution with your girls.
P.S. my little chicken now has the strongest personality and is very independent and happy.

karen.ongleysnook · Post by **karen.ongleysnook** » 07 May 2007, 22:48

thanks that gives me some hope, the limpy one has indeed got really shabby feathers , infact everytime she flaps her wings more fall out, I put it all down to stress, maybe it has caused her to molt,tonight wasnt quite so bad and the other little one has got abit faster at avoiding problems so, perhaps it will be alright in the end.Good to know I'm not the only one with thugs.

karen.ongleysnook · Post by **karen.ongleysnook** » 07 May 2007, 22:57

hi Wendy, thanks for the encouragement,I'm sure time will heal, I'm just amazed by the aggression shown,they do seem , after an initial bit of argey bargey to settle at night ok , it is early days, the bullies are quite abit weary of us now standing on guard to protect the weaker pair,but tonight was'nt as bad..