introducing new members to the flock

[LeslieR]

I have 1 rooster and three rhoade island reds that i have had for about two years. they have not been broody at all, after doing a little research, I read that barred rocks are broodier hens . I bought four chicks about two months ago and they are almost the same size as my others. I have kept them separated. Chicks in garage in pen and the older girls and rooster in coop and pen outside. how should I go about introducing the new pullets to current flock?

 

[Problem hatches]

First question is, are your chicks all hens or do you think you have a rooster in your newbies? I had taken a Rooster home from a farm, I have 9 hens and 1 rooster that had to introduce him to. It was very hard. The first thing I did was put him in his own little coop that had chicken wire separating the two coops, but they could still see and smell each other. At the time I did not know that my chicken was a roo, it was not crowing yet. I tried putting him in with the rest of the flock but he fought so bad with every one of them. The fighting did not stop. I put him back in his small coop and waited for almost a year (this past April) and tried again. Only letting one hen out at a time to establish pecking order.
I was able to get through the the nine chickens, I let the rooster out...they fought quite a bit, eventually the new rooster was at the top of the pecking order....I let the five ducks in, two males and three females. They seemed to not care about the new addition. A week had gone by and the two roosters will still fighting to be #1, the new rooster would not give in. My male Ancona duck had wanted to be number one, he pulled so many feathers out of my rooster and bruised his skin so badly. It was so hard to watch, I thought it would stop...but the rooster would not give in, and pecked so bad at him one day the whole coop was bloody and my duck had gaping wounds on his face and wing. That is when I decided to bring the rooster back to the farm I got him from. Integrating birds is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.
I now have 14 ducklings in he brooder with 10 chicks....I'm hoping round two will be easier...considering I bought all hens from online, I'm hoping they get along better. My ducks stick up for themselves and don't back down.
I hope my story doesn't shy you away from trying to integrate, just filling you in on what Could happen. My advice would be to have the chickens on separate sides of the fence....take one of your new chickens and one of your old chickens and ,let them have it out first...them another one, then another....keep doing that until you've gone through the the whole flock and hopefully you will be okay!

 

[LeslieR]

Thanks for the advice, will take it, any help is welcome.
As for the question of any roosters in the newbies, they were all marked as pullets. I got them the week before Easter.

 

[aart]

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

 

[Problem hatches]

Perfect!

 

[LeslieR]

Thank you! That is what I had read in research and I have my 4 barred rock pullets in a dog crate, in the pen with my adult birds. Every morning I go out and toss treats to both sets of birds together so they should be able to get used to each other. So far so good.

 

[LeslieR]

I forgot to mention Ruby my fourth RIR hen that has been isolated because the others were picking on her. I had her in the garage with the newbies. When I moved the newbies out to the pen with the others, Ruby was lonesome. I moved the hutch she is in out next to the pen, where the others are since then my other hens are not going into the henhouse with Roy at night, instead they are sleeping out on top of the nesting boxes my Daddy had in his pen, next to the hutch that Ruby is in. Should I try to put her back in with the others?

 

[Problem hatches]

Definitely try to put her back in with the others, I have a hen that was getting picked on and I let her sit on her eggs for a month and she molted and got her feathers back. She's def the lowest in the pecking order. Give her special treats, make her feel good so she doesn't get depressed. I had to separate a rooster for a whole year before I could put him with the rest so I know what your going through! Sometimes chickens can't help but to peck, it's their hobbie

 

[LeslieR]

For the last couple of days while I was doing some gardening and maintenance on the pen and duck tank, I let her in with the others. They did not seem to mind at first, but when I was not looking, Roy got after her. I'm not sure if he was trying to mount her or pick at her, it made her and I nervous. I left her out there with them in the pen when I would come in to cool off, watching them on our surveillance camera, she kept her distance from the others but kept on scratching around the pen. When I finished working, I put her back in her own little pen next to the others. I plan to continue the same when I can supervise on days off from work and in the mornings before work. The last few times she was pecked bloody it was at night in the hen house.

 

[Problem hatches]

It's so hard watching them fight

when they draw blood you did the right thing taking her out. Cornstarch will stop the bleeding. Introducing them slowly out in he yard is probably your best bet, your doing a good job, it just takes patience!