4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Tinkerbell]

I have my new eglu and 3 new chickens which I collected on Saturday, tonight is the second night and one chicken (Gwen) wont let the other two into the eglu, what should I do ?

this has happened for two nights now, eventually when it got really dark about 9pm they manage to get into the eglu

 

it's really upsetting to see her bully the other two and bullys them during the day

 

Should I get another house for gwen to sleep in ?

[tenzin]

No ," she'll soon settle in with her friends , when you lock them down for the night . Make sure you put them all in , it takes a while for them to sort the pecking order out .

 

IF you isolate her in an another coupe the other two may then gang up on her , hens always take time to sort the pecking order out , don't worry

[surferdog]

I had this the first couple of days with my Bluebell and it's really upsetting. She kept chasing our little red ranger and pecking her, chasing her away from the food and drink. I followed the advice on here and put some extra bowls of food and drink in the run so she couldn't guard them all. (I must admit I also splashed some water on her from the water bowl when she did it when I was in the run - she just looked at me as if to say 'what did you do that for?'

 

After two or three days it all settled down and the two of them are now inseperable. Hopefully you will find the same.

[SLK69]

Am sure the pecking order will be established soon and then harmony will follow.

 

As a first timer I found it hard to watch the bullying - but it settled quick quickly .

 

 

Susie

[Tinkerbell]

We have had our three chickens for a week now and they are getting on much better. Gwen is still in charge but not so brutal.

 

It seems that most of her bullying was an attempt to corner the food market. Wherever I dropped food into the run, she was there, running back and forward trying to keep the other two away. For the first few days we tried the "bamboo poles across the run" ploy to keep Gwen apart from the other two. Gwen then saw Fifi and Florie eating food that she couldn’t get to. After two days of this tactic Gwen seemed to know there was enough food to go around and settled in. She still likes to eat everything in sight but allows F&F to have a share. The poles have gone and all is well in the run!

 

Thanks for the advise, this forum is so useful.