With a 3 year old daughter who has already taken an attack in the face, I would cancel the straight run order. If you need more hens, order sex linked pullets. Raise them up a year, and then look for a rooster. Roosters are easy to come by.
If your child and the chickens share the yard, I would...
Strike one is how I would look at it. IMO, you are leaving the darling stage of cockerels, and you have too many cockerels for your flock.
I would expect his behavior to become more aggressive, he might not, but I would expect it. Don’t make excuses for him, judge him on his behavior, not...
Block off the under the steps, or put something in there that destroys that nest.
One would think they would find a good place and stick to it - nada. I finally caved, as I have ground nests in the coop. I finally created a nice nest in a box that I could easily reach, and they were laying well...
Or you could do nothing... it is highly stressful on a bird to manhandle them down to give them the tums.
It is very very common to have some misfiring when pullets start laying. Sometimes you get shell less eggs, a lot of the time you don't. When I first started, I rushed in. Then a respected...
When people first start with chickens they expect perfect eggs like one gets in the store. It is not that commercial layers never lay an imperfect egg - it is just that the ones we buy are sorted.
I don't think you are going to cure this, I think this is the way she is. Laying is much more...
A lot of people have wide open runs, and there is a huge advantage to adding clutter. While that open space looks like maximum space it is not. It makes no use of the vertical space. Every chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time.
Add pallets up on blocks, so chickens can get under...
Do know, that not all bachelor pads work over the long time. Some do, some don't. That is how cockerels and roosters are. Today's behavior is no indication what tomorrow's behavior will be. Being raised together has little to no influence on future behavior.
Mrs K
What you need for the younger birds to get some confidence. They need exposure to the territory without getting chased. Consider either letting your adult hens out into the yard, and locking the littles in the run. This allows them to explore the area, and eat without being chased. It also...
My first time, I got a friend - neither of us knew what we were really doing, wanted to be thorough. A lot of nervous giggling. It helped and we got it done.
I started with upside down in a cone, and slitting the throat. The first one, a little nervous, I cut the head off - but hey, it was...
Know that chicken decisions are not one and done. With time the flock changes, what was working, no longer works, and the flock needs to be adjusted by either or both removing or/and adding birds.
Always solve for peace in the flock. Generally that means you can’t keep all or even most of your...
I had Bye, I never intended to keep him, but like Vader, he just got better and better. So far, I have not had a rooster come close. They are not mean…good to fair, but not a flock master.
Throw a little feed outside, and stick a water station out of the run - just for a few days. Let the big girls out and let the babies roam the whole coop.
Let the big girls back in as close to dark as you can. Where the urge to fight will about equal the urge to fight.
Do keep the pop up door...
Well I would not advise waiting till eggs appear, it is very hard on pullets to be in with a single cockerel or multiple cockerels. They mature much earlier, get much bigger, and really can make life hard for the pullets.
Post pictures, we can help.