Recent Reviews
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Buffy is our only Orpington. She is independent, lower on the pecking order, but big, fluffy and likes to cluck. She lays frequently when not broody. She's my only brooder so far that I have...
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These are my first chickens, gifts from a daughter for Christmas. Once they started laying, it's rare to have a day without one egg from each hen. They come when I call them, stay close to the...
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I have six Japanese Bantams. Five hens and one rooster. Grace, Zoey, Lemon, DeLacey, and DeLaney are the hens, and George Tucker is my rooster. They make up about 1/5 of my chickens. I have all...
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I just LOVE my sicilian buttercup, Poppy. Anytime I go outside she loves to hop up onto my back or my arm. She's very curious and loves to he held or played with. I've also noticed that she loves...
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My Brown Leghorns are very good natured, and easy to care for. they lay well and lay large eggs. You can count on a dozen plus out of this coop every 4 days with only three hens laying. I get a...
age range in the coop
- Location: Northwest Arkansas
- Joined: 2/2009
- Posts: 12,094
- offline
You have two kinds of aggression to worry about. First is pure integration. Chickens can be territorial. They might (or might not) protect their territory from any strange chickens. If you house them side by side for a while but where they can't get to each other, they will usually accept that the other has a right to exist. That's the function a broody performs. She protects her chicks until the others get used to them.
Sometimes you have a hen that will just not accept the others and will actively seek them out to destroy them. It has been fairly rare with my flock but occasionally you get one, and it is usually a hen, that is a pure brute. It is not a mature rooster.
The other aggression is the pecking order stuff. More mature chickens will automatically outrank less mature chickens in the pecking order. If the less mature invades the private space of the more mature, they will peck them. It is their right and how they maintain their pecking order status. If the lower ranked one runs away, then all is usually well in the flock. But if one does not run away, it is a challenge to the other and it can get really nasty. If you space is tight and the younger cannot evade the older, then if can get really bad.
Sometimes you do have older chickens that will actively chase the younger even if it runs away. This does not happen all the time but it does happen. If they have enough space to get away they quickly learn to avoid the older chicks. That's why it looks like you have two totally separate flocks. The younger ones are protecting themselves by avoiding the older.
Can you merge them? It is possible but really risky. If you have to try, house them side by side for a week or more and give them as much space as you can when you do merge them. Also give them separate places to eat and drink and as many places as you can for them to get away from the others. Things to hide under or behind or extra perches.
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.....Judge Learned Hand (The more sure your are that your way is the only right way, the more likely you are wrong.)
A couple times I have had a hen brood her own, I allowed her to raise them as she saw fit around the rest of the flock. When my old chickens would free range one hen disappeared and I thought something killed her but one day she came out of the marsh with a bunch of little chics behind her and brought them all to the coop. I always had roosters as well. I have never once had a problem but the chics always had a mother around.
- BarnGoddess01
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- I ♥ HENS
- Location: north shore of Lake Erie
- Joined: 8/2009
- Posts: 3,631
- offline
I would not attempt to integrate 3 week old chicks with 4 month olds. The 3 week olds will not be able to defend themselves. I usually wait until they are at least 12 weeks old to attempt integration and even then there can be a lot of fighting but at least at 12 weeks, they have a fighting chance. (Chicks raised with broodies are a very different thing. They have a mom to defend them. The other birds know it. And even they can get into a lot of trouble when Broody mama is done with them.)
Working hard in Canada with Bearded Silkies (White, Blue/Splash, Porcelain), B/B/S Ameraucanas, and Black/Blue Copper Marans
Working hard in Canada with Bearded Silkies (White, Blue/Splash, Porcelain), B/B/S Ameraucanas, and Black/Blue Copper Marans
- age range in the coop
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