We have all heard of the phrase “the pecking order”. Chickens establish a hierarchial order in their flock. This is thought to have evolved over many thousands of years in the jungle fowl of South East Asia. The pecking order allowed the flock to eat in turn and peacefully when food was available. If they were fighting at these times, they would be wasting their opportunity to eat and attracting attention to themselves from predators.
The pecking order is still well and truly with the hens of today and hens can be incredibly cruel to newcomers. If you are mixing hens that aren’t used to one another, you should make sure you are around to keep an eye open for trouble. The following points may help:
- Place newcomers behind a fence or in a small run for a week so that they can get used to their new surroundings and get used to one another.
- Introduce a new hen at night to the coop when it is dark. Place her amongst the other hens. They will not fight in the dark and it will give the others a chance to get used to the new smell.
- If pecking takes place, leave them to get on with it as much as you can. They have to establish the new pecking order but…
- If blood is drawn at any point, remove the hen and try again when the injury has healed. Chickens are attracted to red and will peck blood very quickly.
- You may want to try removing the hen that is fighting with the newcomer to the flock for a little while until the new hen has settled into the flock, then put the trouble maker back in.
If you are still having difficulty with the hens getting along, you can try an Anti-peck spray and if you have real problems, ‘bumpa bits‘ can be fitted to the beak for a while. These stop the end of the beak closing completely so prevent her from causing damage to other hens but she is still able to eat and drink normally.
Hi, you talk about hatching eggs !! but no info on how to look after day old chicks ??
Ordered 30 x 30 day olds and they misread the order so have 30 day olds under heat am feeding chick crumb
any help welcomed………..have had Ex batts before with no real problems…only 3 old girls left
I have tried to aim this website at beginners who start with a few hens in their back garden, hatching chicks is something that often comes later as you gain experience and there are lots of other excellent resources out there offering advice on this. I will certainly consider adding some new pages on this in the future though.
Just discovered your website,which is proving to be interesting and useful as I am pretty new to this. I have ‘inherited’ six ex battery hybrids who live in a wooden coop set in a secure netted enclosure by night, but get to roam freely in a large field for a good part of every day. They are all elderly girls (must be around 3-4 years at least) and are wonderful characters. I am keen that they should be allowed to live out their days in peace, but here is my question: I have been offered three more, much younger hens also needing a good home. Your advice so far warns of newbies being attacked, but I am concerned that my existing birds would be vulnerable due to their age if younger birds were introduced, and I’m concerned it may be unfair to upset their established equilibrium at this stage in their lives, or am I worrying too much ?
Many thanks
You could give it a try. Sometimes I think there won’t be any problems and there are and vice-versa.
We have two chickens, and now have got two more which we have kept in a separate run for a week and have let all chickens out into our garden together in the afternoons for the lat few days and they have all got on ok. We introduced the new chickens to the coop last night and now they won’t come out (of the coop), whereas the others have. Any ideas what we should do or do we just leave it for them to sort out
They should eventually get enough confidence to come out on their own, although if they are constantly bullied when they do come out, I would either give them more space so they aren’t bullied, or remove the bullies for a while until they have enough confidence to come out.
I had three ex battery chickens from BWHT about two years ago. They were the most adorable, inquisitive and friendly girls and got along together really well. One of my girls died very suddenly in the early summer this year and sadly, I lost my second chick earlier this week through ill health and now only have the one girl left. I am worried that she is going to be very lonely. Should I get another to keep her company, or should I get another two or three. I do not want her to be bullied but I also do not want her to feel sad and lonely. Any advice would be most helpful.
Yes, chickens are flock animals and need company, I would get some more hens but in view of the age difference I would get at least two more, perhaps three so when she passes away, the others are still in a flock. It may take a little care in introducing them all but ex batts are usually quite gentle.
Hi love your website just got my first chickens in a coop and run at the moment but I would like to give them the run of the garden how lon should I keep them confined before I let out to roam free ?
Once they are going into their coop at night to roost on their own, you should be fine letting them out. Start off by letting them out an hour or two before dusk and you should see hem heading back to the coop to roost at night. It’s far easier to get them back in like his than chasing around the garden for them…. They never go in the direction you want them to go in!