Dominant Hens

Hello!!

Wondering if anyone could help. I have two hens at 4 and a half months old, one producing eggs the other not as yet. And two smaller chicks at 2 months old. One female and one male.

My concern is that the older ones are very dominant over area/space etc and wont get on with the smaller ones at all. I tried introducing them at just over 6 weeks but the older ones weren't having it. They sleep in the same shed though the older ones go into one coop and the small ones another as having them overnight in the same area only ended up with blood being drawn. Since them I havent let them be in an enclosed small area together at all.

When allowed to free range, the older ones seem less concerned though will try to show authority and chase the younger ones out of an area etc or literally show bullying tendencies.

I've already tried the vinegar and water technique at night and separating but this doesnt seem to be helping much.

Any suggestions?? Really new at chicken keeping so any tried and tested methods that have worked will be useful.

I have the same issue every time I introduce newbies. It can be ugly to watch.

What I do is keep a close eye so no blood is drawn, free range as much as I can, and wait for the young ones to grow. Eventually, every time, it works out.

Good luck.

You just have to wait it out. I find that even when they are not mean to each other, there is a subgroup until the poulet start to lay. Cold weather, always makes mine get a long a little better.

A lot of time people do not recommend introducing strange birds unless they are of equal size.

Mrs K

Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
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

It's been about 10 days since I introduced the new girls to the rest of the flock of 6. They are finally accepted in the run, but are not allowed in the coop by the dominant hen. What now?

Thanks for the replies. Turns out the two younger ones are both male but will have to see how it goes. Hopefully they'll get better. Every time it looks positive it goes pear shaped.