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Pets chickens

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estibador said:
Nope, still nothing from those two.

My uncle was trying to thin out his flock and gave me two of his on Sunday though, and those two have already given me 3 eggs in two days. I know it's from the newbies because they have to lay in a different area because my original two have been bullying them something horrible and won't even let them into the laying box yet.
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Have you checked all around your yard- or wherever the chooks have access to? (I'm trying to think like a chook, here, so bear with me ;))
If I was traumatised by a dog attack, I probably would not go NEAR my old nesting place for a very long time!! I'd find another safe place to lay- under a bush, in a pot plant, wherever I thought I'd be safe.

I found 2 dozen eggs in a bag of straw once- couldn't believe I hadn't thought to even look for another laying place. Can't remember if the hen was bullied or if she'd had a fright (eg storm) but she obviously thought that was a safe place. I've also had a hen jump the fence to lay in a plant pot, then come clucking around my bedroom to wake me up every day.

You can either keep an eye on those hens to see where they've been hiding out or you can lock them in the area you want them to lay. Just a couple of options if you want to see what they're up to.
 
Teriyakicat it's only a small sub-divided yard so there's nowhere they could be laying that I wouldn't be able to see from walking along their little run down the side.

The oldest one is really starting to piss me off. Since I added the two new chooks she's practically turned into a rooster - she won't ****ing shut up and keeps waking me up with continuous squawking from 5am onwards. I've taken to spraying her with a sports water bottle to try get her to shut up.

So no eggs, constant noise, combined with the fact she's being a pretty vicious bully to the new chooks who are actually laying.... I'm seriously considering taking her into the front yard and culling her if she doesn't lift her game.
 
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Pretty slim pickings on gumtree for Sussex and no Pekins whatsoever. Grabbing the Pekins was an afterthought at the time but and I'm probably most disappointed about losing those funny little things.

Teriyakicat you have Silkies and Polish yeah? Any others breeding? If I can't find the ones I'm after would you be interested in a potential trade of a sack of wheat or something for a carton of eggs?
 

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Just at an appt guys. Will reply properly later but Kram, I'll give them to you for nothing. They need a good home next year so best to do it now while I've got a taker. Will talk to you about it later when I'm home :)
 
Ok I'm too much of a pussy to actually kill it, but that ****ing hen has been driving me insane today while I've been trying to watch the cricket.

I chucked it in a cage away from the other chooks about 30 minutes ago and since then it's been blissful silence - all the other hens going about their own business quietly, no bullying or squawking. I'm taking the Hitler hen around my uncles for forced relocation.
 
estibador said:
Ok I'm too much of a pussy to actually kill it, but that ******* hen has been driving me insane today while I've been trying to watch the cricket.

I chucked it in a cage away from the other chooks about 30 minutes ago and since then it's been blissful silence - all the other hens going about their own business quietly, no bullying or squawking. I'm taking the Hitler hen around my uncles for forced relocation.
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When you chuck new ones in or swap them from pens I might get the odd skirmish but they usually sort it out and settle in pretty quickly, although it might be a lot worse when you only have 3 in a small pen instead of a flock of birds in large one.

edit - actually I seen a situation where they had 3 hens one was a bully on one of the Dr Harry Cooper shows recently, but off the top of my head I can't remember how they tried to solve it..
 
estibador said:
Ok I'm too much of a pussy to actually kill it, but that ******* hen has been driving me insane today while I've been trying to watch the cricket.

I chucked it in a cage away from the other chooks about 30 minutes ago and since then it's been blissful silence - all the other hens going about their own business quietly, no bullying or squawking. I'm taking the Hitler hen around my uncles for forced relocation.
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If you can leave it away from the others for a few days, then re-integrate it, that might help. Taking it to your uncle's will mean that it will probably get bullied there- if he's got more land, that's OK and there'll be room for it to wander on its own.

Here are some ideas:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens

and this person suggested hobbling the bully's legs:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746062/what-can-i-do-to-stop-a-hen-bully

Might be worthwhile to try one of these ideas because, once you remove the bully, another will take her place.

I can give you a lovely rooster- I hear that roosters keep the hens too busy to bully anyone ;)
 
Kram81 said:
When you chuck new ones in or swap them from pens I might get the odd skirmish but they usually sort it out and settle in pretty quickly, although it might be a lot worse when you only have 3 in a small pen instead of a flock of birds in large one.

edit - actually I seen a situation where they had 3 hens one was a bully on one of the Dr Harry Cooper shows recently, but off the top of my head I can't remember how they tried to solve it..
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I try and put up a barrier between the two groups- only bring in about 3 new hens at a time- and they get used to running up and down alongside each other but can't hurt each other. Then I take the fence out when I'm ready.
 
Teriyakicat said:
If you can leave it away from the others for a few days, then re-integrate it, that might help. Taking it to your uncle's will mean that it will probably get bullied there- if he's got more land, that's OK and there'll be room for it to wander on its own.

Here are some ideas:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens

and this person suggested hobbling the bully's legs:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746062/what-can-i-do-to-stop-a-hen-bully

Might be worthwhile to try one of these ideas because, once you remove the bully, another will take her place.

I can give you a lovely rooster- I hear that roosters keep the hens too busy to bully anyone ;)
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My uncle has a huge flock of 20 or so with a big permanent enclosure. My Hitler hen originally came from a farm like that so she should be cool.

The others 3 seem fine now without her. They haven't made a peep all arvo and when I chucked some seed around before there were no major dramas other than the usual squabbling with food.

Nothing like what this other bully was doing. She would walk up and down the daytime run (about 1.5m x 10m) constantly squawking at the top of her lungs and attacking the two new chooks every time she walked past them. She wouldn't let them into the laying hutch so they had to sleep downstairs in the dirt, and when I would get up to let them out in the morning she'd be squawking and pecking at them while they were trapped with nowhere to run.

She had the runt of the crew so traumatised it was spending the entire day facing the corner inside the enclosure with its head on the ground. I felt so sorry for it I was letting it sleep outside in the bushes, figuring she was in more danger locked inside with her tormentor than she was out there.

I just managed to get that same chook to eat for the first time this arvo now the bully is gone - before I was trying to throw food into her little hiding places and she would just stare at it. The other two still pick on her but at least she doesn't seem determined to suicide by starvation now.

Likewise it only took an hour for the other new chook to start making herself a nest in the laying hutch with the bully gone. The other old chook is fine with them being in there.
 
estibador said:
My uncle has a huge flock of 20 or so with a big permanent enclosure. My Hitler hen originally came from a farm like that so she should be cool.

The others 3 seem fine now without her. They haven't made a peep all arvo and when I chucked some seed around before there were no major dramas other than the usual squabbling with food.

Nothing like what this other bully was doing. She would walk up and down the daytime run (about 1.5m x 10m) constantly squawking at the top of her lungs and attacking the two new chooks every time she walked past them. She wouldn't let them into the laying hutch so they had to sleep downstairs in the dirt, and when I would get up to let them out in the morning she'd be squawking and pecking at them while they were trapped with nowhere to run.

She had the runt of the crew so traumatised it was spending the entire day facing the corner inside the enclosure with its head on the ground. I felt so sorry for it I was letting it sleep outside in the bushes, figuring she was in more danger locked inside with her tormentor than she was out there.

I just managed to get that same chook to eat for the first time this arvo now the bully is gone - before I was trying to throw food into her little hiding places and she would just stare at it. The other two still pick on her but at least she doesn't seem determined to suicide by starvation now.

Likewise it only took an hour for the other new chook to start making herself a nest in the laying hutch. The other old chook is fine with them being in there.
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That's good- I guess she saw them as a danger to "her" home...
Glad that it seems to be OK now. What a shame for the poor little victim. :(
 
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Some chickens just think themselves too high on the pecking order for small flocks.

They need 30-50 birds so they don't focus all their energy bossing around just a few and then with some roosters in the mix everything should even out.

Small flocks of under 10 are tricky business and need to be carefully handled. You need to have hens that can get along especially if you don't have much space for them to free range in.
 
Interesting, I've generally had flocks of about 5-15 for years and hardly ever had any real problems with hens getting along with each other.

Even recently putting the 2 month olds into the pen with the adults, aside being understandably timid at first and initially getting kicked of the perches at night by the adults when trying to get up there, after only a few days they started to get along with each other pretty well.
 

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Kram81 said:
Interesting, I've generally had flocks of about 5-15 for years and hardly ever had any real problems with hens getting along with each other.

Even recently putting the 2 month olds into the pen with the adults, aside being understandably timid at first and initially getting kicked of the perches at night by the adults when trying to get up there, after only a few days they started to get along with each other pretty well.
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Might be the type of hens, perhaps? I find that the red hens can be pretty bossy but the silkies might just have a little peck but generally get along, likewise the pekin that I have seems to be good natured.
 
Yep certainly depends on breed.

Some are timid and not prone to developing bullying behaviour.

I think you've just been lucky Kram81 and all your hens have been sweeties.
 
Maybe.. but over the 20+ years I've had chooks since a little kid there's been Austrolorps, Anconas, Orpingtons, a Hamburgh, Sussex, an ISA/Hyline plus a countless amount of crossbreeds and never had any issues with fighting that didn't just sort themselves out pretty quickly when they got used to each other.
 
Kram81 said:
Maybe.. but over the 20+ years I've had chooks since a little kid there's been Austrolorps, Anconas, Orpingtons, a Hamburgh, Sussex, an ISA/Hyline plus a countless amount of crossbreeds and never had any issues with fighting that didn't just sort themselves out pretty quickly when they got used to each other.
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Were the Isa/Hylines the bossiest breed? Maybe you had more room for your hens- estibador said he only had a small area. Or maybe you introduced them differently. I used to introduce 3 at a time, so any bossy hen had her attention divided between the three.
Or maybe estibador just got a particularly protective hen.
 
Teriyakicat said:
Were the Isa/Hylines the bossiest breed? Maybe you had more room for your hens- estibador said he only had a small area. Or maybe you introduced them differently. I used to introduce 3 at a time, so any bossy hen had her attention divided between the three.
Or maybe estibador just got a particularly protective hen.
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Nah my Hyline (that I just buried the other day thanks to Mr Fox :rolleyes:) just got chucked in by itself late one night after being kidnapped from the school farm on the way back from the pub :D was pretty good with other chooks once it settled in and didn't have any problems. Also strangely I didn't really even put any specific effort to tame it, but it quickly became one of the most friendliest hens I've ever had. You could pretty much walk up to it and just pick it up off the ground if you wanted. Heck one time it even snuck inside into the kitchen behind us as the screen door was swinging back. Really was a great pet.
 
Swapped that hen for one of my uncle's last night... ahh blissful silence this morning. First time I've been able to sleep past 5am all week.
 

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estibador said:
Swapped that hen for one of my uncle's last night... ahh blissful silence this morning. First time I've been able to sleep past 5am all week.
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I feel your pain. My better half is on the verge of committing chicken genocide. I'm not so fussed as 1) I'm a deep sleeper, and 2) she's a great layer.
 
PastiesPeake said:
I feel your pain. My better half is on the verge of committing chicken genocide. I'm not so fussed as 1) I'm a deep sleeper, and 2) she's a great layer.
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(oh, how can I resist?? ;))
Who? Your wife? ;):D

My hubby hates our roosters- we have 4 in the front pens, about 20-30m from our bedroom :(Things got pretty touchy when the big rooster used to jump the fence and ****-a-doodle-doo outside our window every morning.. in summer, that's at about 4.30am...
 

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