A little background . . a couple of years ago, we got chickens. One was mean and became known as “Mean Chicken”.
Mean Chicken, along with almost all my other chickens were lost in a dog massacre back in December. Three chickens survived out of the red coop, none of the adult bantams survived and three Dominiques in another coop survived.
Chicken Coop #1
The three surviving red chickens were living in the big coop. Once we got new chickens, we had to do some switching around to make the coop situation work out.
Play Pen Coop
We built a little “play pen” type area next to the bantam coop since there were five babies that had hatched after their moms were killed so adding three adult hens to that coop shouldn’t be an issue. We put the coop from Tractor Supply in there. The play pen area allows the two groups of chickens to get used to each other without actually being able to fight with each other. It takes a few days for them to get used to each other. The bantams are on the south end (left) of the duplex. When we put the bantams and the three red hens together one red hen was mean to the bantams. We tried everything . . putting her back in the “play pen” area so she could spend a little more time getting used to the other chickens, but nothing worked. I had resisted putting the three red hens in with the three Dominiques because they had never been with a rooster and Wilbur, the rooster, is nice but he’s big!
Dominiques
Finally, out of desperation, because the one hen was being so mean to the bantams, we put the three red hens in with the Dominiques. The rooster kept the bad girl in line for a while but she seemed to run over him too and she was terrorizing the other two Dominique hens so, we put her in solitary. We moved the little Tractor Supply coop over by the first coop and built the “play pen” around it.
Solitary
She’s been in solitary for probably about a month. Since her pen adjoins the main coop’s run, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem to add her in with the chickens in there. I was getting tired of having to keep a waterer outside, a waterer inside and a food container inside . . for one chicken. Last night I said . . it’s time for her to go in with the 10 new hens. They’re pretty much grown . . almost the same size as grumpy chicken and I figured they could hold their own against her. I picked her up and put her in there and knew immediately it was a mistake. She chased them around and had them all running and screaming.
Not long before dark, and just after I had taken my shower, Vince came in and said “We have to get her out of there!” Yep, I knew it wasn’t going to work but I was surely hoping it would. Back into the chicken run, caught the offended chicken and she’s back in solitary. I think she’s perfectly happy living alone but it adds time and work to my chores.
I wonder what makes a chicken be so mean!
CindyM says
They are like people… some just turn out mean! I kept waiting for the “we’re having chicken for dinner” part of the story!
Barbara says
me too…I kept reading and thinking…gumbo?
carole says
Me three … I’m into chicken soup and using the meat for chicken salad.
Lynne in Hawaii says
Yep, me four! I kept thinking gumbo for sure.
Bon says
Yup, sounds like chicken dinner to me.
Helen Koenig1 says
oh yeah! I do love chicken soup!! Hmmm – maybe reminding her that the NEXT stop for her is the stew pot???? Think it will work??? Nah!
Chicken soup for sure! Or chicken and dumplings! Chicken gumbo! Time to pull out the chicken recipes!
Deb K says
It seems like there is always one. Whether it is chickens, horses, fish in the aquarium or people. There is always one…..
Karen says
Me 4!
Sherrill says
Is it the same kind of chicken as mean chicken was? Wondering if they just typically have more meanness in them than others. Goofy chickens….
Janet says
We raise thousands of pheasants and quail every year. We had a very mean rooster pheasant. He’d attack my daughter and me when we went in the pen to do chores. I hit him with a 2 x 4 board one time hoping to kill him. He just bounced off a wall and came right back after me. So I learned to cover him with a 5 gallon bucket when I started chores and let him out when I was done with chores.
Norma says
Sounds like a chicken dinner is in order. Some are just mean, just like people.
Janna says
Soup!
Nancy says
I don’t know what makes a chicken mean, but I definitely would tell her that the next step is chicken soup:)
Karen says
Chicken and dumplings maybe?
Linda in NE says
Time for some mean chicken soup methinks! On the farm mean animals wind up on the dinner plate or at the sale barn, where I imagine they still wind up on the dinner plate.
Rieann says
Time for a roast chicken dinner!
Jo Anne Schnebly says
Ditto on the chicken soup. My high school aged son bought the pigs from the greased pig contest each year from the county fair. One got out one year. Took me 3 hours and help from several neighbors to get him back in. There are no fences anymore. Yes, he ended up in my freezer. Yum!
Rebecca in SoCal says
It really doesn’t sound like she’s worth the bother, especially since you did give her a second chance!