Help integrating

[CzchMate]

hi all, I have five hens (about a year old) and in the process of adding 3 (eleven week) pullets. The lady on the lowest level of the pecking order made sure to ‘bully’ the new girls chasing and pecking them at every opportunity upon introduction yesterday. I separated them last night as I didn’t want things to be too stressful. (The new girls have a small, temporary shelter in place.) This morning, whenever the weak link approached the youngest, the other ladies virtually attacked her. I’ve never witnessed anything like that before. Is this normal? It was quite vicious and I can only suspect it was related to the older girls being protective of the new babies. Nothing like this has ever occurred previously. Second to that, once fully integrated, how do you manage the two separate food sources for the layers and the pullets? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Ridgerunner]

On the food, I feed all of them the same thing, a low calcium Starter when the chicks are young but switch to a low calcium Grower long before they are eleven weeks old. I offer oyster shell on the side. The ones that need the calcium for eggs seem to know it while the ones that don't need the extra calcium don't eat enough to harm themselves. Instead of switching to Grower, many people stay with Starter or use a high-protein Flock Raiser or All-Flock throughout their life or until they start to lay.

I have never seen an adult flock of all hens protect young pullets like that but I almost never have a flock without a rooster. Sometimes a rooster will protect his flock from itself, especially chicks. But when a flock does not have a dominant male, sometimes the dominant hen will assume some of the responsibilities that normally fall to a rooster. In my opinion, this is just one more thing that makes chicken TV better than anything on cable, satellite, or antenna.

 

[CzchMate]

On the food, I feed all of them the same thing, a low calcium Starter when the chicks are young but switch to a low calcium Grower long before they are eleven weeks old. I offer oyster shell on the side. The ones that need the calcium for eggs seem to know it while the ones that don't need the extra calcium don't eat enough to harm themselves. Instead of switching to Grower, many people stay with Starter or use a high-protein Flock Raiser or All-Flock throughout their life or until they start to lay.

I have never seen an adult flock of all hens protect young pullets like that but I almost never have a flock without a rooster. Sometimes a rooster will protect his flock from itself, especially chicks. But when a flock does not have a dominant male, sometimes the dominant hen will assume some of the responsibilities that normally fall to a rooster. In my opinion, this is just one more thing that makes chicken TV better than anything on cable, satellite, or antenna.

Thanks so much

 

[Yard Hen Lady]

hi all, I have five hens (about a year old) and in the process of adding 3 (eleven week) pullets. The lady on the lowest level of the pecking order made sure to ‘bully’ the new girls chasing and pecking them at every opportunity upon introduction yesterday. I separated them last night as I didn’t want things to be too stressful. (The new girls have a small, temporary shelter in place.) This morning, whenever the weak link approached the youngest, the other ladies virtually attacked her. I’ve never witnessed anything like that before. Is this normal? It was quite vicious and I can only suspect it was related to the older girls being protective of the new babies. Nothing like this has ever occurred previously. Second to that, once fully integrated, how do you manage the two separate food sources for the layers and the pullets? Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi there. I had a similar situation when I integrated a 4 month old pullet to my flock of four. I thought they were going to kill her. So, I kept her closed in a ”look but don’t touch“ pen for a couple weeks, and putting her in the coop after other girls went in. In the morning I‘d get up early and put her back in her own pen. After about two weeks the other girls got used to seeing her, so I let her out. There was some minor pecking order situations, but nothing serious. that stopped after a couple weeks.