hens fighting

[lalalaland]

i recently got two blue laced wyandottes about 3ish months old. i put them in with my two other wyandottes(silver and gold laced about 10months old) today and the silver laced(boss) jumped on the bigger of th two and started pecking her and clawing her while the little one cowered in th corner it was horrid and i had to remove them. a friend said to put them in at night and the others wont notice but then wont the bigger chickens beat th others up and i wont know till morning? will i have to house them separately? help!

[Dr Doolittle]

I'm not entirely convinced that anyone who refers to chickens "beating each other up" should actually be allowed to keep chickens! Chickens (regardless of breed) have a pecking order (hence the phrase). It's identical to the alpha dog syndrome in canines. Superiority MUST be decided, unpleasant as it maybe to witness. Once submission has been declared by one or the other bird, normality will ensue.