[CHICKENS-101] Rita's Reign of Terror

 

OK, it sounds like my pullets are old enough for layer pellets, thanks for the opinions.

 

Now my real dilemma is how to get Rita, the adult Barred Rock hen, to quit bullying the babies.  Last night, she kept chasing them away from the feed and water.  I set up multiple feed and water sites, and she chased them from one to the other, biting them and yanking out feathers if she caught them.  (They had enough time between charges to eat and drink.)  I was sitting on a stool in the middle of the run, and Rita kept coming over and eyeing my lap, something she hasn't done since she was a pullet herself.  I picked her up and put her in my lap, and she sat there crying, telling me how unhappy she was with these intruders!  I told her she was still my number one chicken, and asked her to please be nice to her new family.  When I left the run, she ran back and forth at the gate, crying.  At dusk, two of the babies went in the coop and got on the roost, but Rita and the third baby both ran back and forth, crying in distress.  I heard Rita still crying well after dark.

 

This morning, all 3 pullets were crammed into one of the nest boxes.  It was 6:30, well after sunrise, and I had to take them all down, which they didn't like at all.  This afternoon, I find them all back in the nest box.  It's only 96 today but it's still too hot for them to stay in there, and I'm worried they're not eating and especially drinking enough, so I go to lift them down and the next thing I know, Rita has fluttered up there and is charging into the box.  I had to grab her by the feet, as babies are shrieking and bailing out.

 

I put a large wire dog crate in a shady part of the run, with feed and a big bowl of ice water, and stuck Rita in there.  I put a frozen soda bottle in the nest box, and a big piece of frozen watermelon on the ground of the coop, next to the water dish.  When I go back out in an hour, if the babies are all crammed up in the nest box again, I'm going to tear my hair out!  I sure hope Rita will calm down soon.  Poor chickens.

 

Maureen and the girls at the
Rowdy Girls Ranch
Tucson, AZ

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