I bought 7 new hens and added them to my coup yesterday. However my old hens are attacking them and won't let them near the food or water. They are all about the same size. Not sure what I need to do... Any help would be appreciated!
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You should have definitely isolated those new hens from the rest of your flock! Why? Because you might introduce disease/illness to your existing girls..yikes!I bought 7 new hens and added them to my coup yesterday. However my old hens are attacking them and won't let them near the food or water. They are all about the same size. Not sure what I need to do... Any help would be appreciated!
I also have Black Australorp ladies...the absolute best breed for mild temperament, very docile and friendly, talk like crazy to you, and they lay the beautiful brown eggs...I wouldn't have any other breed...love them to death!!We integrated some 3 month olds and some 6 months olds with great success in about a week.
First, we locked the younger birds IN the coop, so that the bigger birds could still see them, but couldn't get access to them.
The first night, we gathered all the little birds and, after the big birds were on the roost, took the little ones and added them to the roost pole.
Then, in the morning, we once again locked the big birds OUT of the coop (each group had their own food and water) in their run/pasture all day.
This way, the younger birds learn where home is and the bigger birds get used to sharing their space without being able to attack.
After seven days of this routine, we opened the door and now all the birds have the option for free-ranging. It was really funny, because they all came out as one group... The Bigs were flocking with the Littles!
Made my heart soar. <3
On a side note, all the birds in my flock are Australorps. I don't know if they are all able to recognize that they are "birds of a feather," or if maybe the breed temperament had something to do with it - Lorps are naturally friendly, docile birds.
We combined our flock on Friday, and we have had great success with it.
Good luck!
MrsB