Establishing pecking order or bullying?

[madsnbot]

I ask so many questions but i just love it here! So anyways, back in April i bought 4 chicks, a EE, serema, frizzle cochin (bantam i think), and a frizzle, who are around 9 weeks old now. A few days ago I brought home 2 more chicks, a tetra tint and a bantam cochin who are also 9 weeks. I didn’t introduce them properly ( my fault i know ) and 3 of my chickens are completely bullying the new chickens. The dominate hen is the EE and i feel like she’s the worst but the serema and frizzle are also bullies. They’ll chase after the new chickens, won’t let them OUT the coop if they’re out, won’t let them IN the coop if they’re in, won’t let them eat or drink(i still make sure they get food and water), and just generally scare the new ones so much they cower in a corner! I haven’t seen any feather plucking but they do grab onto the new chickens feathers pretty hard. The two new ones don’t fight back but it continues to happen. I’m not sure what to do with 3 bullies in a flock. I don’t know if this is normal pecking order stuff or bullying. I separated the EE into a separate coop for the night but not sure if that’s the right thing to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated I also have a video but don’t know if i could upload it.

 

[townchicks]

I would go back to square one, and set up a proper look but don't touch introduction area. It may take a week or more to settle down. Also, be sure you have enough room in your coop and run for all the chickens Pics of your setup can help with suggestions. Then when you do let them together again, scatter things to allow the picked on ones to get out of the sight line of the bullies. Things like boards propped up (securely so the can't fall down) , chairs on their sides, etc.

 

[madsnbot]

I would go back to square one, and set up a proper look but don't touch introduction area. It may take a week or more to settle down. Also, be sure you have enough room in your coop and run for all the chickens Pics of your setup can help with suggestions. Then when you do let them together again, scatter things to allow the picked on ones to get out of the sight line of the bullies. Things like boards propped up (securely so the can't fall down) , chairs on their sides, etc.

Thank you! I have two coops and together they’re about 12 sq ft (i plan on making another, bigger coop but most of our chickens are bantams and small still), and a run that’s not too big but they spend all day roaming the yard. Since i’ve separated the EE from the others things have been going decent, all of them sleeping together but it could be different by tomorrow morning. Any more advice from what I should do from here? tomorrow i’ll probably keep the 3 bullies in the run and let the others walk around so they can see each other, or vice versa, if that’s a good idea. thank you

 

[madsnbot]

Update: today I finally got my EE to stop bullying the new chicks. Thank god. To get her to stop when she went to pick on my new chickens i squirted her with water. startled her enough and she got the memo. Other two didn’t.since the other two are still bullying so i put them in a separate coop and that’s where they’ll have to stay for a few days. I plan to slowly reintroduce them back into the flock. Not sure if i should do it individually or together. I worry that if i reintroduce the bullies my EE will start to bully again. If anyone has any suggestions lmk I’ll post any further updates here

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

I would go back to square one, and set up a proper look but don't touch introduction area. It may take a week or more to settle down. Also, be sure you have enough room in your coop and run for all the chickens Pics of your setup can help with suggestions. Then when you do let them together again, scatter things to allow the picked on ones to get out of the sight line of the bullies. Things like boards propped up (securely so the can't fall down) , chairs on their sides, etc.

I use cut logs for out of site out of mind

 

[madsnbot]

Update: they all get along now