The chickens are finally getting along better after weeks of establishing the pecking order. We had to keep them separate most of the time, either in a temporary coop for daytime use or a wire screen barrier in the "hen house" at night. The younger one also needed separate food, which the older hen liked better than her layer food. When they were out in the yard, they also needed supervision and the adult hen needed some reminders from a squirt gun to not chase the little girl around the yard. All those measures went on for weeks. Chicken care is much simpler when they are separate with different feeding requirements.
This is the young chicken, pullet, resting in the hole that they keep enlarging on the edge of the grass.
I heard from a woman at work, who also has chickens and replaced one of theirs with two chicks, that her chicken's adjustment to each other lasted a few days and they were settled into life in the coop. If only ours had been that simple.
Is that were the phrase 'pecking order' comes from? Domestic fowl sorting out their hierarchy? Glad to hear they are slowly but surely getting on better!
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