The_smeeeths Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Not sure if I am doing the right thing but... I rescued 12 battery hens last mon and 1 of them is making the life of the others a misery. I keep seperating her but as soon as I put her back in she starts attacking everyone. She wil not allow some out of the henhouse to eat or drink. She is much larger than the others and has a bad attitude problem!! I can't keep her seperate all the time as I have been putting her in my eglu set up when my other girls are free ranging but they are not happy with this and need to get in to lay etc. All the others get on well untill she goes back and then she just runs around attacking everyone. Need advise or a new home for her. O/H say's she will be dinner for sunday if its not sorted!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 it takes about 2 weeks-ish to settle down. Bear in mind that the poor hens have had to fight for every mouthful in the cage and they have to un-learn that behaviour, she will if you give her time. Let them all free range together and distract them with sweetcorn or some other treat. When it gets too bad, keep seperating her, make sure you have plenty of feeders/drinkers so she can't guard all of them at once. I hope it settles down soon, please perservere. We had the same problem on a smaller scale with Maud being the bully but once she realised there was no competition for food and "Ooops, word censored!"ody was going to peck her, she settled down but we did have to try all of the above and it does take time and patience. I know it's horrible to watch but this is what being in a cage does to them, give her a chance, a week really isn't long enough for her to have settled in good luck. oh, and there's something called a bumper bit you can use, I've never used one but i've heard they work to stop a bully from closing their beak to peck another hen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 What's your run set-up? I assume you haven't got 12 battery hens in a standard eglu run?? With a bit of ingenuity it's usually possible to separate any bullies, whether using a mesh panel or some bamboo canes to divide the run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 good idea, we have part of our run seperated off for our newbie at the moment, 3 garden canes with some garden netting across them. Then they can all see each other but can't peck each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_smeeeths Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 I have an eglu and a large hen house and run. I have my original 3 hens in the eglu and the new ones in the other. They will all eventuallu go in together. At the moment I am letting the old ladies out to free range and then getting the naughty one and putting her in the run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hi just to say keep your chin up and if you really cannot stand to see her behaving so badly then contact your rescue coordinator. She should settle with time but it is SO hard to watch. And sometimes they actually don't, we inherited a flock of four who had all lived happily together, put them with our existing flock of 7 who all turned on one of the newbies. Then her own flock turned on her and after several months of this she had enough, packed her bags and effectively moved herself into the greenhouse. Now she's adopted herself in with the ex-batts, but sometimes they cannot establish the pecking order, or that's what I reckon anyway, and in that case you may have to rehome her somewhere where she can get well and truly sat on by a bigger hen. Good luck, don't feel guilty if you have to move her on, and tell OH she'd be tough as old boots! We've threatened ours with the roasting tin on numerous occasions to get them to lay eggs, never works Mrs Bertie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little chickadee Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I'm afraid I can't offer any advice but just thought I'd pop on to wish you luck and hope that it all settles itself out soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 I have an eglu and a large hen house and run. I have my original 3 hens in the eglu and the new ones in the other. They will all eventuallu go in together. At the moment I am letting the old ladies out to free range and then getting the naughty one and putting her in the run. Sounds to me like your bully needs some violence-free contact with the other ex-bats, or she's never going to integrate. Could you borrow a broody pen or a cat/dog travel cage (the large open-barred sort, not an enclosed box) and put her in the run where she can see the others but not attack them? Or somehow put up a barrier inside your big run (using a length of chicken wire or other cheap fencing) - it wouldn't have to be that high, since as an ex-bat she's presumably not terribly athletic! Give her her own food and water, and let her just get used to her new home for a bit. One of my new bantams was a bit ferocious the first few days, but she soon calmed down when she realised she was in a much smaller flock and didn't have to bully her way to the front of the food queue any more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
