One of my RIR hens, Roseblossom, won't stop pecking and chasing the pullets. They've been outside together since July, and have been sharing the same chicken coop for over a month. The pullets are now 23 wks old, just about 3/4 the size of the two RIR hens. The other morning, I watched some of the Red Star pullets, who were in the nesting box, getting ready to lay, and "Roseblossom" get into the nesting box (I have one big one) and started pecking the pullets that were in the nesting box. It wasn't just a "gentle" little tap, and she didn't stop, so I removed her. I few minutes later, she came back. Poor little "Faith" was trying to lay an egg, and she didn't want to leave, so she just cowered and kept getting pecked. Finally, I decided to give Roseblossom a "time-out" while the others laid their eggs. Once three of them had laid their egg, I released Roseblossom. By then, her "sister", Lily, had gone into the nesting box. Roseblossom pecked her, also, but Lily just turned the other way, and they both stayed in the nesting box.
That evening, I put hardware cloth in the nesting box, so that it became "two" nesting boxes, since we built it quite large (6 + pullets can be in it at the same time). That has seemed to work, although, I haven't been able to observe them again and see if Roseblossom leaves them alone if they go into the "other" nest. I'm thinking of putting up another nesting box inside the new chicken coop, but the way chickens are, they may just continue using their "favorite" nesting box.
Tonight, I had to refill their feed, and they all came running to eat it. It's a round "bucket" feeder that I've placed in the middle of the chicken coop addition. As usual, Roseblossom and Lily were the first ones to start eating. The pullets tried to eat some, too, but Roseblossom kept pecking and chasing them away. They went round and round the feeder, and sometimes two RIRs were the only ones eating any feed. Roseblossom even chased one of them back into the other section of the coop, then went back to eating.
Maybe a month or so ago, I used two feeders, both accessible to the older and younger chickens. It worked a little better, but the RIRs still guarded one of the feeders. I could go back to that system, but I just wanted to make more room in the chicken coop, plus not have to fill up two feeders.
I was hoping that these two different age groups of chickens would be compatable, not having to have separate nesting boxes and feeders; most of the "introducing younger chicks to older hens" topics haven't indicated that they have this much of a problem after months of being together. I followed all the advice that the people on BYC had suggested for this, in going slow and carefully, etc.
If there's something that I could could do to help, I'd like to know. I don't want the pullets to have to put up with these two "trouble-makers" all day long during the winter, when they have nowhere else to go.
That evening, I put hardware cloth in the nesting box, so that it became "two" nesting boxes, since we built it quite large (6 + pullets can be in it at the same time). That has seemed to work, although, I haven't been able to observe them again and see if Roseblossom leaves them alone if they go into the "other" nest. I'm thinking of putting up another nesting box inside the new chicken coop, but the way chickens are, they may just continue using their "favorite" nesting box.
Tonight, I had to refill their feed, and they all came running to eat it. It's a round "bucket" feeder that I've placed in the middle of the chicken coop addition. As usual, Roseblossom and Lily were the first ones to start eating. The pullets tried to eat some, too, but Roseblossom kept pecking and chasing them away. They went round and round the feeder, and sometimes two RIRs were the only ones eating any feed. Roseblossom even chased one of them back into the other section of the coop, then went back to eating.
Maybe a month or so ago, I used two feeders, both accessible to the older and younger chickens. It worked a little better, but the RIRs still guarded one of the feeders. I could go back to that system, but I just wanted to make more room in the chicken coop, plus not have to fill up two feeders.
I was hoping that these two different age groups of chickens would be compatable, not having to have separate nesting boxes and feeders; most of the "introducing younger chicks to older hens" topics haven't indicated that they have this much of a problem after months of being together. I followed all the advice that the people on BYC had suggested for this, in going slow and carefully, etc.
If there's something that I could could do to help, I'd like to know. I don't want the pullets to have to put up with these two "trouble-makers" all day long during the winter, when they have nowhere else to go.
