Pullet Pecking Order Dysfunction

Well we have two spare Barred (Plymouth) Rock pullets that we thought we were going to sell, but have decided to keep. They are about three weeks younger than our Rhode Island pullets. We figured, "how hard can it be to integrate them with our slightly older Rhode Island Reds?" Well, we found out that it won't be quite that easy.  Right off the bat, it is obvious that the BRs were going to be the underdogs. They are about half the size of the RIRs.

We put the all the pullets into a newly cleaned coop that none of them had been in before. We moved them into the coop that I call the "hoop coop" which is large enough for eight standard sized chickens and the over-sized hoop run. I wanted to make certain that there was plenty of adjustment room which is like twice the actual space they need for their current age. We set up extra feed and water stations,

Initially, in the coop, they seemed fine, the two BRs on one end of the roost with the RIRs on the other end. The various pullets would hop down and explore then return to their own little flock. I thought, "so far so good."  So as the day warmed up, we opened the coop into the run.  Still okay, sorta. The RIRs explored the run while the BRs stayed inside the coop. 

By the end of the day, the BRs were so distressed, they were flying into the wire, trying to get away from the RIRs that were tormenting them. So we locked the two bully RIRs inside the coop at dusk and watched.  The BRs were still stressed with the two remaining RIRs even though those two were not tormenting. It was obvious there would be no way that the BRs would be allowed to sleep in the coop by the two bullies.  I scooped up the two BRs and put them back into their pen in the garage.  Then, I scooped up the other two RIRs (not the bullies) and added them to the BRs' pen.  It was obvious, right away, that the RIRs in that strange pen was not going to be the dominants, not with the pen still smelling like the BRs' house. The BRs immediately hopped back up on their roost, and no longer made their little distressed peeps. The RIRs hunkered down in the back corner of the cage and seemed quite subdued and confused. When I checked on them a few hours later, all four pullets were sleeping snuggled together on the roost. 

The next morning, still fine. No squabbles and no wounds. Although this pen is only temporary, it will hopefully give these four time to begin their own flock with a more gradual pecking order.

In a few days, I will take this same cage and put it into the run.  I will put the two bullies into the cage for a couple of days without cleaning it.  It will have the BR and now the less dominant RIR smell in it. I will use the same feeder and waterer too, (with fresh food and water) just to make certain that the bullies know that they have been demoted. The BRs and the less dominant RIRs will have free reign of the coop and run, while the bullies will be caged to cool their heels and watch the others having fun. 

After a day or two of this "bully demotion" I will let those two RIRs who think they are hot stuff back out and we will see what comes of that. 

I recognize that RIRs and BRs are both territorial breeds, but who would have thought that they would be this mean this early in life?!  I'll try to remember to update this post as we keep working on this new flock integration process.  I'm sure we will find a  solution.  Especially since we want to integrate the older RIRs with the younger flock later this summer.

Update May 25, 2020. 
We left the BRs with the cage with the two calmer RIRs. They were actually quite content as a small flock.  So we put them into the Coop together on May 22.  We put the large cage (actually too large for the run, but will deal with it).  We covered the cage to protect it from the elements a bit more and put the two dominant RIRs inside the cage with food and water.

The then caged RIRs were not happy with the fact that they could not tear into the other RIRs and BRs. We still kept two feeding stations in the run, just to be safe. The mean girls slept in the cage over night and stayed in there on May 23 as well.  The small semi flock were functioning well together and went to roost on their own on the evening of May 23.

At some point in the night, one of the mean girls found an escape route through the top of the cage and was sitting on the cage when we came out to release the others from the coop.  She took right after them to show that she was still the dominant one, but then calmed down a little. We left them all running loose in the run, keeping the cage in there in case we needed to cage back up the BRs.  There were still some scrimmages going on, but nothing too serious. As night fell, they all, four RIRs and two BRs went to roost in the coop.

Today, it was obvious that the RIRs were now blocking both feeding stations, keeping the BRs away. We set up a third feeding station inside the coop.  We have a dropdown (sliding) door on the coop.  We raised it just enough to allow the BRs out of the coop (and back in) but not high enough for the RIRs to get back in. Leaving the feeding station #3 in place for now.  When the RIRs get distracted with each other, the BRs come out and either get into their old cage, or go eat at the 2nd station. But as soon as they feel threatened, they run right in to the coop away from the mean girls.

Update May 28, 2020.
We have taken the large cage out of the run now. On May 26, the BRs and one RIR slept in the cage all night, basically refusing to go into the coop. So we locked them into the cage and the three RIRs in the coop. Last night, none of the birds could get into the cage because the door got bumped shut. So the two BRs tried to sleep on top of the cage.  After the four RIRs were in the coop, I put the BRs into the coop, closed it up, and they found a spot on the roost to sleep.  Tonight, the BRs were already in the coop and on the roost at dusk.. I lifted the door and the RIRs, one at a time, filed into the coop and hopped up onto the roost. Although the two BRs are able to move around and do their thing, a couple of the RIRs will show dominance and the BRs will run back into the coop during the day.  On occasion, one of the less dominant RIRs will try to get in the middle to calm things down. Since the RIRs can't get in the coop during the day, this actually gives the BRs an opportunity to eat and drink without being bullied or blocked from the feed stations located in the run.

This situation is not ideal, but with the BRs being so small, I don't think we have much option until those two mean RIRs have it figured out that these BRs are part of their flock. Interesting thing is that, at this point, the baby pullets that are currently six weeks of age (as about three weeks younger), are, essentially, the same size as the older BRs in our little flock. However, the younger BRs are not as feathered nor have the same sized combs. I truly do think we have two bantam BRs. I'm both intrigued and annoyed, but that's what happens when dealing with some of these "hobby" chicken breeders.

Update June 2, 2020.
The Rhode Island Reds are becoming more tolerant of the smaller Barred Rock.  The photo below shows them chill'n in the run.  We did not block the RIRs from the Coop today and it seems that the two feed stations now, are all that is needed. There's still some occasional chasing going on, but the BR are quick and seem to be able to dodge the brunt of the altercations.

Final Update June 8, 2020.
Finishing up the third week and the pullets are all settled into their pecking order.  The Barred Rock have figured out how to work around the Rhode Islands Reds, and are even actually playing (or perhaps toying) with them. In the coop, there is very little chittering. The Barreds have their space on the long roosting bar while all the Rhodes huddle together at the other end of the roost.The Barred Rock are still quite a bit smaller than the Rhodies. They are still about half the size of the Rhodes. So, I still don't really know what to think. If they do turn out to be bantams, I will likely sell them in September unless their egg size is medium since I would prefer not to have to deal with a bunch of small eggs.
=============

Pix of the Barred Rock alone, looking all tall.  But next to the Rhode Island Reds? Well, I have to wonder if the BRs might be bantams.

Barred Rock at six weeks

Barred Rock 7 weeks & RIRs @ 9 weeks

Rhode Islands 9 weeks / BRs 7 weeks

Rhode Island 11 weeks / BRs 9 weeks

Garden & Chicks - Early May Update 2020

Yes, still have a lot of chicks.

Lost a few small ones and nursed a couple more that seem to be doing better.  Yesterday, one of the little Rhode Island Reds cut her head, right behind her ear and others were picking on her.  They were chasing her away from food and I thought we were going to lose her. Washed her little face off and isolated her in a separate cage inside the pen, to ensure that she was able to eat, drink, and sleep.  Within a few hours, she was alert and ready to go back. The others didn't pick on her anymore and all seemed better.  Then, today, I noticed one of the Barred Rock chicks had pasty butt.  It still had food in it's crop, and was still eating, so I think I caught it early. I had to soak the chick in a pan of warm water to  get the poop off.  Holding it on a warm washcloth just wasn't doing a thing and the cloth just kept getting cold. Within a minute of putting the chick's butt into the water, the pooh released and fell off into the water. I wrapped her up into a little wash cloth and held her on my chest to keep her warm until I found the hair dryer.  Set that up about eight inches away and let it blow on her until she was all dry. Wasn't even ten minutes because she's so small. Put her back with the others, and she went right to the food and started eating. Fingers crossed on both of them.

We decided to add an extra feeder into the pen and put the other warmer into the pen.  That's been a big hit. Plus, every day is Sheet Cleaning Day with this many chicks.  I try to change the sheets every day simply because, well, there are a lot of little poopers in there all at the same time. Normally, I can wait about three days between changes. But not now!

24 hours of pooh from 16 chicks

The baby RIRs are starting to fly and jump over things. That's a good sign that we are about ready for shavings.  BUT, the baby BRs are not quite there yet.  They seem to be about three or four days behind the RIRs at this point.  When we got them, the RIRs were much smaller than the BRs.  Now the BRs are much smaller and somewhat delayed in abilities.  It's all good, but I would like to have them all in shavings at this point so I won't need to keep washing sheets.

The other BRs finally figured out their dust bath!  It was almost full and now it is almost empty.  They are mite and lice free at this point with just a few nits left. I am still keeping the heater going as that will help those nits hatch and fall into the DE.  One more week and I will clean out the entire cage to ensure we have all mites and lice out of there, and put all fresh stuff in there and we should be back on track, pest free. These BRs have gained weight and have more feathers, so they look much better.

4 or 5 wk Barred Rock Pullets

Dust Bath Emptied

In the greenhouse, we have tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro and lettuce.  I had transplanted the plants from the nursery into gallon milk jugs because they were getting root bound in the containers. They were doing really well outside until the storms came in and started pelting them.  One of the bell peppers got the most damage, so they are back in the greenhouse for now.

Cherokee Purple Tomato Clones

Sweet Bell Pepper Clones

My starts, from seed in March, are finally looking good.  The lettuce also is doing very well.  I have three types of leaf lettuce.  The cilantro just sprouted this week. I will need to thin that out.

My Itty Bitty Starts are Growing

Potatoes are finally looking good. Strawberries are still blooming. Peas  (planted on two weeks apart three times) are all doing very well. The marjoram that I started last fall in the green house, then struggled to keep the bugs from killing it, is actually thriving. Last winter, I just took the pot outside and figured I would just start over in the spring. But it just came back on its own. Go Figure?

Cilantro Sprouts	Leaf Lettuce - unknown type
Leaf Lettuce - Red Sails	Topped Off Potatoes with Soil
Strawberries still blooming	Marjoram Revived itself
Peas Planted 2wks apart

And lastly, the clover seed that we sprinkled out last week has already sprouted. We tried to dig out all the thistles that had taken over some areas of the back yard and it looks like the clover is going to fill it all in.  So today, we scrapped out some areas that were filled with moss in the shade to see how long that will take.  Little by little.  I purchased 10 pounds of seed, so we have lots of areas to experiment and see how it does.

Crimson Clover Sprouts