More Advice on new birds please

Sue

Sue

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My hens only arrived yesterday and I seem to have some problems already! It may be that it's because they haven't settled down yet, but because this is my first time I don't know wheter it's normal behaviour to start with or not. Firstly one of them has laid an egg this morning in the corner of the house, not in the box. I've put dummy eggs in the boxes, but she seemed to prefer the corner. Could this be because it is darker than the boxes? Secondly one of the hens (the smallest and slightly younger one) a silver laced Wyandotte is bullying one bird in particular (a buff Sussex) who is the same age. She is only going after this bird, leaving all the others alone. It started as soon as they arrived her yesterday afternoon with just a peck on the back, but she chases her around and moves her away from the food and water. Today she is still doing it, but is not pecking out feathers as well. I have sprayed the Sussex with anti-pecking spray, but since doing this she is still chasing her and pecking her. The Sussex then goes back into the house to hide, often followed the the Wyandotte. I have put some food in the house with her so hopefully she can get something to eat, but I don't know what else to do!
 
Hello, they will settle down eventually- all birds will fight when new together- just make sure there are a few feeders and drinkers spread out , so they all get their share and some places to hide- as long as there is not lots of blood and wounds -let them get on with it- they can be very nasty at times but separating them will only stop the fighting until they are back together- just bite the bullet and let them sort it out themselves.They will lay in the nests when settled in- darker is better, it's just a new enviroment and they need time to settle.
regards, David :)
 
Hi there, there is no need to worry if they don't lay in the nest box; my bantams hardly ever do and lay anywhere they please in the house and sometimes outside on the lawn! There are no hard and fast rules and they lay where they are happy.
As David has already said it is very common for them to fight at first. They are sorting out their pecking order (which one is more dominant in the run). Try not to worry too much as they do sort this out for themselves. :)
 
I've had to remove the one who was being severely pecked! I spoke to the breeder who we had them from and he said as blood had been drawn I should remove her. So now I have one chicken in the bedroom in a dog cage!!!!! He said to keep her there for 7-10 days until she has healed and then start to integrate her back by putting the cage next to the run so they can see each other. I'm not sure for how long I have to do this or what I do with her at night. Anyone had to do this? I just hope she doesn't start picking on someone else as I don't have any more cages! What would happen if the one who is doing the bullying is removed? I feel like sending her back at the moment.
 
Hello, putting her in a cage will only delay it- they will still fight- once she is healed- put her in at night when the others are asleep. They will still bully her for a day or two but will settle down- like i said, make sure they can all eat and drink and let them get on with it.
regards, David
 
I was told to remove her because otherwise she would be dead in the morning because of the blood all the others would attack her. They have all lived together for the past week at the breeders and although he knew she was the top hen and the other was the bottom, there hadn't been any serious pecking. Changing the environment has obviously upset things. I can't just leave her in there to be killed! She is now in a cage on her own with food and water.
 
Hi Sue
Hope your hen recovers soon, it is always difficult introducing hens, they can be quite nasty to each other. Are you able during the day to put the chicken that has been hen pecked in a seperate cage so that your other chickens can see her but can't get at her to attack again? May help once she is better reintroducing as they will have had time to accept her
 
Try spraying any wounds with purple wound spray [horse suppliers stock it]. It will prevent infections in wounds and it changes the colour of the wound. Certain chickens are highly drawn towards red and will constantly peck at a wound. Change the colour and they loose interest.

My approach in these situations is to remove the aggressor for some time out of the flock, why not ask the breeder to swap her for a more placid bird? If you can't do that, is it possible to divide run & hut up so that the hens can still see each other but can't get at each other? Some of this behaviour has been brought on by the stress of moving, they are trying to reestablish the pecking order and this one is trying to make sure she gets the top job.

Once a bird looses confidence it just becomes a willing victim. By removing the aggressor the rest of the group will calm down and develop another pecking order. If the aggressive one is later introduced, she will be at the bottom of that new pecking order and the hen that was her victim will have regained confidence and won't play victim any more.

One of my cockerels was being pecked by another through the fencing between their runs. All he had to do was take a step back and he would have been out of reach. Instead he just stood there and took it and was totally oblivious to my presence until I picked him up, he was so locked into his "victim role"

As with life there are those who are pushy and those who like a quiet life.
 
I would recommend using Gentian Violet 240ml (but wear gloves!). It's an anti pecking and antiseptic spray. As the name suggests it sprays the affected area purple, blood tends to send chickens a bit mad and they will keep pecking at it, but a purple area they don't seem to bothered about.

I know its hard when we introduced 2 CLB's to our flock, the others pulled out all of one of the chickens head ploom, she looked like a bit of a baldy! But they need to sort out the pecking order, it took about a week for ours to settle down, its hard to watch, but necessary.

Hope they sort it out soon

Charlie

edit: Sorry just realised Annschooks suggested the same!
 
i had problems with two hens who were pecking all the others quite badly and I removed the bullies. I reintroduced them four days later/ I have a large walk in run and I put them in a dog cage in the run for a couple of days. I then introduced them into the house at night. Things then settled down. Your problem is that blood has been drawn which means the hens will probably go for the red so she would probaly have to be removed until the blood has cleared up. I also use netex anti peck spray on the pecked hens. Pecking usualy stops quite quickly after I use this. The smell is awful so I dread to think what it tastes like.
 
I tried the anti pecking spray as soon as I noticed there was a problem, but it didn't work. Then when I noticed she had been injured and there was blood I sprayed her with the antibiotic with gentian, this didn't work either. This is when I asked the breeder what to do and he said take her away. I could put another cage inside the run and put her in this during the day, but would have to take her back into the other cage in my house at night, because I can't separate the hen house. Would there be any point in doing this? I'm tempted to just take her back to the breeder as I don't like to see her on her own and the rest of them have all settled down. Would that be giving up too easily?
 
Usually it does take a while to settle down although I did have to give up on it the once and separate my two rescue hens the others were so awful to them and after a week they still would not let them eat or drink even when i put two lots of feeders and drinkers down. The poor hens would jump on my knee when I went in it was awful so I gave up on trying. Perhapes if you are able to take her back it would make things easier as you have nowhere to sleep her apart.
 
I had trouble also last year. If it is one particular hen that is being the bully, try separating her from the others instead of separating the victim. I would only separate them if there is aproblem with drawing blood though.

I had the situation where my older hen would not allow one of the new ones out of the hen house into the run. I just made sure that there were plenty of pots of food and water around the run (with some placed close to the door). It took them over a week to settle down but they did get there eventually.
 
Her wound healed really well and new feathers are coming through. I put her in a large dog cage next to the main run so they could see each other. She was in there until Thursday when I let them all out together. Initially it looked promising, as the 'bully' didn't really pay her any attention. That night she went into the house first and got herself settled in a nest box. I decided to leave her there and all went very well. The following day they all came out together and occassionally I caught the 'bully' pecking at her back again! I spent the whole day in the run (yes, I must be mad!!!) to supervise and things were ok. They all slept together in the house again. Today everything seems ok, but then you can see the 'bully' eyeing her up and she walks purposefully towards her and gives her a good peck before I can get there to intervene. I'm really worried about what to do next. I don't have the time to spend all day every day supervising chickens!!!!! I don't want to separate them again, but I don't want her to get injured either. Why is she still doing this? It's only these two that have a problem, all the others get on fine. None of the others are interested in pecking her! I have though I may try one of the poultry saddles (if I can get one from anywhere) so that she can't peck her back and hope she will then lose interest.
 
I'm going to do that tomorrow I think, if she does it again. She seems to do it more in the morning, but by the afternoon doesn't bother about her so much. I've tried to give her distractions by hanging up pecking blocks and broccolli, but she just seems to be very determined with her 'hate' campaign!!! She's the smallest of them them all and one of the youngest (the bully that is).
 
I agree, I would separate the bully and put her in a small cage away from the others and leave the victim in to establish her order in the run...and once she is well and established at confident, I would place the bully back in the pen with the rest. I bet you will find that the bully is no longer a bully. Just a suggestion!
 
The hen that is being picked on already has her place established in the pecking order (second from the bottom of the 6) the bully is 2 places above her (third from the top). This has already been established, but the problems is she is just picking on this one bird, none of the others. The one that was being picked on, this morning has another injury. She slept in the house with the others again last night, she sleeps in one of the nesting boxes). They were all quiet and settled, but this morning she is limping! She can use her leg, but walks a few paces and then either lies down or lifts the leg and holds it up against her body. Nothing happened yesterday for her to get this injury and she was fine at bedtime. I have put the cage us again inside the main run this time and put a deep layer of wood shavings in it and put her in there. Couldn't think of anything else to do! I thought it best if she rested the leg and if she couldn't move very well the bully is just going to be able to get her easier!!! Have I done the right thing and does anyone have any suggestions about what may be wrong with the leg?
 
i wipe clean the bloody bit with poroxid. it fizzes away any puss and drys the blood leaving a white scab in sted of red. i read that sudacream or the white antiseptic cream tastes yuck to the chickens so wont peck it after the first peck
 
Time for the bully to go I think ! You can then enjoy your chickens without the worry and the big investment in time. The bullied hen is going to be at risk again if blood is drawn and the others join in as well.
The type of bullying you describe does not come within the normal limits of settling in sqabbles and in a confined space will continue to be dangerous.
I think you've done well in your attempts to resolve the problem but do you want to keep patching her up, especially as she now has a bad leg.
 
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