[DarleneJ]

I moved my breeders that I will be overwintering inside the chicken house into two pens.

I put 7 birds in one pen, knowing that I would be culling one more female when I returned from an out-of-state wedding. These females were mixed from separate pens when I put them into their new pen in the chicken house.

The second pen held a breeder set that had been together most of the summer.

When I left both pens were doing well. Laying eggs and peacefully coexisting.

When I returned, each pen had only 6 birds (so one was missing from the pen with 7 birds when I left.) There is a lot of fighting. The birds are not laying (in 2 days I got 2 eggs from 10 hens that were each laying previously.)

I think the doors were left open and birds escaped. The person would not have known which birds went in which pen. They found "most" of them and put an even number of birds in each pen. I can recognize one male and am not even sure I have two anymore.

I have sexed them, but the male(s) are not even frothing and I don't know how to sex by genitalia (if anyone can direct me to a resource for this I would appreciate it.

I am considering putting them all into a large "grow-out" pen together and pulling two separate groups out once they've re-established the pecking order.

For now I will put a couple of small boxes in the pens to give hiding places for the ones getting the tar beat out of them.

They are mostly Texas A&M crosses with a couple of young Coturnix hens in the mix. So there are some that I recognize as my breeder females (and one definite male) by the markings, but not all.

I'm disappointed and hope to figure this out. I was wanting to collect eggs for incubating as soon as I returned, but these critters need the stress-level to drop first.

Thank you for your thoughts. (And yes, they have the correct amount of square footage, feed, water, sand, calcium, etc. I believe they just got mixed together wrong.

 

[Mrs. Jo]

Bummer for you. Mine have tried to jump out through the door as I was tending them. I am going to install a inner screen to slow them down because of this.
I have read that they are territorial, so it will take some time to let them reestablish a pecking order in the new pens and get comfortable again.
Do the texas birds have darker beaks if they are roos? It's true with my Cuturnix- my roos have darker beaks than the hens.

 

[DarleneJ]

I've had them try to fly/jump out over my head before. One launched himself off of my head. :/ I wasn't impressed. And then to chase him down before my dog pounced on him... Only important because he was a breeder. My dog thinks they all taste the same...

They are very light sensitive. If their cage is on the dark side they will naturally try to fly towards the light. So if an open door lets in more light they will fly.

I've found an opening that is 6 - 8" high from the bottom and about the same from the top keeps them in pretty well. Attaching a strip of screen across the bottom and/or the top to help close the gap might do the trick. They jump up and then begin to fly, so lowering the top is key. But I always close the doors when I'm not working in their cage.

The hidey boxes I put in the pens have helped to bring some peace.

Texas A&Ms don't have any distinctive markings per se. What gives them distinction are the various markings from the crosses. Mine have previously been crossed with goldens and tuxedos. I am adding a couple of Cornish X hens for genetic diversity. I tried a Cornish male but he escaped.

One of my males has a black line on the lower left side of his beak. The other one is a new male from the growout pen that I downsized and I had not become too familiar with him before I left. I am suspecting that he is the one who is chasing my male - but he shows no froth when I sex him and I haven't seen him mounting any females.

Well I'm on my way out to check on them...

Thanks for your post.