Buff Orpington and other breeds.

[rytay4]

I have a 3 month old RIR, and I'm about to buy 3 more ( same age ) hens to add to the mix. Buff Orpington is a breed I have wanted for some time now, and I've heard their docile nature causes them to be picked on. Does anyone have issues with this? I'm planning to get a barred rock and possibly a blue or silver laced Wyandotte. I may just be a little paranoid but wanted to do a little research. Thanks in advance.

 

[LoveThemBirds]

I am not sure where you heard THAT incorrect peice of info.

Buff Orpington is a pet,but arr aggressive.My BO is the most scariest thing around.She is never touched.She is the one who picks on hens.It could be her dominant stance and genetics,but I.know for sure I have never in my lifetime heard of a BO getting picked on.

 

[Chixlittel]

I have 5 buff orpingtons and 6 Rhode Island reds. I have one buff pretty low on the pecking order, but my other ones seem to be pretty high on it. The head hen is a Rhode Island Red. The lowest buff tends to pick fights trying to claw her way up. Not sure if she is being successful, but she does get a bloody comb quite often. They do seem to all get along well.

 

[aart]

You only have the 1 bird......and are going to add 3 more?

Birds fighting/bullying is usually more about territoriality than particular breed aggression...especially during integration. When you add a new birds to the existing birds coop/run, the existing birds will see the new birds as a threat and attack them.

New birds should be housed adjacent to existing birds but physically separated by wire for a few weeks prior to allowing them physical contact. Lots of space, hiding places, multiple feed.water stations can help reduce the incidence of fighting as they learn to live together.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock