Molting can cause change in behavior. Molters may act a little off and try to avoid contact with other birds, which could possibly worsen pecking order issues as chickens may be more inclined to attack birds that seem ill or off.1. Any thoughts about why the heck this happened after peace for so long? Maybe molting is to blame? If so, does new aggressive behavior triggered by a molt typically resolve once the birds feel better?
Shouldn't take long, maybe a few days, for a healthy adult bird. But if the temps warm up like you anticipate, going from 60s inside to 50-ish outside should be fine without any acclimating.3. Should I worry about Towanda going from my toasty house (66-68 degrees) to winter outdoors, even though it’s warming up a bit? How long does it take for a chicken’s body to acclimate to cold temps? Are we talking hours, days or weeks?
You can try that, it does work in some situations. Something more solid like cardboard or scrap wood may be a better option so the birds can't see each other to peck each other.4. Should I try to rig up some sort of divider inside the coop for sleeping when I start the reintroduction process? That would be a challenge, given the coop’s small size, but I do have some welded wire fencing I might be able to cut and somehow secure….
Different height roosts can work, but if all the birds are wanting the top bar and not sharing well, it might work better to have roosts at same height. I agree the two roosts look too close together, you want 14-16" between them to prevent bullying/picking.Ah hah! So I was wrong to think different heights would be a good thing? I can definitely look at the space and try to figure out how to keep the heights the same but add some space.
I was a little concerned about putting a perch too close to the windows, which I usually keep open. The coop came with almost no ventilation, so I added more high up—but I like to open the windows, too. Not necessarily great in the winter, though…