# Pecking at the new chicks!



## sbon2727 (Aug 17, 2013)

I have a Buff O and 3 Easters that are 20 weeks old (not laying yet). we have 2 chicks that are 3 weeks old we want to add, but every time we bring them near the girls, the big ones peck at them and hurt them! so we keep them separated. will this stop when the little ones are older? thanks!


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

There will always be pecking while integrating a flock, no matter the age. There will always be pecking within a social group of a flock and this is normal and natural. 

The transition is eased if you keep the new birds like a cage within a cage in the coop/run area for a week before trying to combine them. They get used to their presence, sounds, sight. It's also good if you can feed the older birds next to that cage at the same time you feed the younger birds...they will be eating side by side but can't get to one another. 

After a week, let them sort it out. Unless they draw blood, the pecking isn't going to do any lasting damage and it is the way of chickens. It will calm down and won't happen as frequently except around the feeder and the roosts. Make sure they have plenty of room so that the youngsters can avoid or get away from the elders. 

Plenty of space is the key to a harmonious flock, which is one of the reasons I free range...never had to worry about integration methods. I just throw them together on free range and they have a whole day to avoid one another or not,as they choose.


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## Queenie (May 13, 2013)

When our girls would get a little too rough, we would catch the "victim" and smear hot sauce all over them. The bullies don't care for ghost pepper very much and toned it down.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

How did that work out for the victim's skin?  

Chickens eat hot pepper flakes all the time and never taste them, so not sure if yours were smokin' hot to painful or if it was mere coincidence that it worked....


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## sbon2727 (Aug 17, 2013)

update: we did the cage inside the cage method when we were at work for a couple weeks and let them free range all together when we were in the yard with them. all was well - the little girls still got pecke a little, but nothing serious. 

so we put them all together in the coop with a place only the babies could fit in case they needed a break.

day 1 went fine, day 2 one of the babies got trapped in the nesting box area and just about got pecked to death. there was a hole in her neck the size if a dime. she's doing fine now and is nearly healed. we're back to cage in a cage, and will probably stay that way until they are full grown. not sure what else to do?


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## chickett (Sep 29, 2013)

Yeah, I had a few batches of chickens that I had to integrate. I used the cage method, my chickens have a lot of room and fairly nice I guess? I had a few squabbles but nothing that serious! I dont really know what to do but I guess keep trying! You could always use a squirt gun chickens hate water! If worse comes to absolute worse you could just seperate the coop in half with some chicken wire. Will keep them safe during the night. As for the day try to make sure there is no areas that they could get trapped in? Good luck and keep us posted!


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

sbon2727 said:


> update: we did the cage inside the cage method when we were at work for a couple weeks and let them free range all together when we were in the yard with them. all was well - the little girls still got pecke a little, but nothing serious.
> 
> so we put them all together in the coop with a place only the babies could fit in case they needed a break.
> 
> day 1 went fine, day 2 one of the babies got trapped in the nesting box area and just about got pecked to death. there was a hole in her neck the size if a dime. she's doing fine now and is nearly healed. we're back to cage in a cage, and will probably stay that way until they are full grown. not sure what else to do?


I'm thinking you need much, much more space in your coop and run. I've never had a chick harmed by another hen out on free range all these many years, so it has to be due to not being able to avoid the bigger birds when they need to do so.

Can you post pics of your setup and give us dimensions and the number of birds in that area...that could help us try to help you. Seems every time I hear of young birds being injured by older birds it was due to space issues.


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## sbon2727 (Aug 17, 2013)

here is our setup. we partually converted a cedar play set to a coop. the run is 50 feet total and goes back and along the chain link fencing.

the coop is approx 5 feet by 8 feet at ground level. the box and nesting boxes are all open, and most of the floorboards above the box have been removed so the girls can roost up there on the floorboards.

we believe the little girl got trapped by a big girl (our Buff, shes been the most aggressive towards the little girls) in the nesting box area. any thoughts you have would be appreciated. the little girls are almost 9 weeks old now i think. thanks.


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## chickett (Sep 29, 2013)

Wow! That is one awesome coop! Just a question, why do you have the chainlink fences in the backround?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Since they are confined in this manner with older birds and, though your run seems long, it's not very wide, you might help these young birds by providing a creep area. I can see how the shape of your coop and runs would make it hard for them to avoid the older birds and get caught in the crossfire.

A creeper is an area that the chicks can dive into but the older birds cannot go...some people feed their young animals in these areas as well to keep the older birds from driving them off their food. This can be achieved with clever fencing that is up off the floor about 4 in. so the chicks can scuttle under it and escape the big gals.

Here's a site that mentions creep feeders for chicks but doesn't show any specifics:

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html


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