Need Help! How do chickens make friends?

[Lewbylew99]

I have 3 chcikens they are all really friendly But then i brought another 1 chicken yesterday and shes bleeding because the chickens keep having fights with her... So How could i make them friends or just get them to stop fighting?

Please HELP!
Lewbylew99

 

[Judy]

Chickens have a pecking order, and this is normal behavior, to establish a new pecking order when there is a change in members of the flock. An new member is normally automatically at the low point of the pecking order, so it will get pecked the most. Introducing a new chicken often requires things like housing them side by side for a few weeks with a fence between them, to allow them time to get used to each other, then supervision when they are actually put together. At this time, things like offering treats, having a separate feeder and waterer, and having them in a large area with hiding places will help.

If the new one is bloody, she will need to be removed from the flock until she is healed. Chickens will continue to peck a bloody wound, often to the point of death. Then you will probably have to house them near each other but out of reach for a few weeks.

When already together, if severe pecking occurs, sometimes you can identify one who is the "lead bully" and isolate that bird for a week or so. Then when you introduce it agan, it will be at the low point of the pecking order.

 

[Lewbylew99]

Thankyou for your comment,

ive got another question, Im going to free range them in my back garden and my back garden is massive with loads of bushes to hide in...
Is it alright if i free range them all day then put all chickens together at night in the hutch?

Lewbylew99

 

[theoldchick]

Yes, you can free range your chickens if you are aware you may lose them to predators. Keep the new chicken separate from the others until she is healed. Then you'll have to introduce her behind some sort of protective device. Placing the new hen in a large dog crate near the chickens so they can see her but not peck her. Allow them to interact with her for several day then release the newbie under your watch. If they seem to get along you can allow them to free range together. Do this when you are home and can make sure there are no more bloody fights.

And for future reference quarantining new birds is always advised.

 

[Lewbylew99]

Is it alright if i free range them all day then put all chickens together at night in the hutch?

 

[sezjasper]

Thanks for posting on this topic, Lewbylew, and hopefully you won't mind if I add a similar question to the thread? If adding, say, TWO chickens to a flock at one time...and the two chickens come from different sources/sellers, do the two chickens need to be housed apart from each other as well as apart from the flock, until they all can be trusted to get along together? Or, do the two chickens bond with each other in the new situation? Thanks for any advice!

 

[theoldchick]

Is it alright if i free range them all day then put all chickens together at night in the hutch?

Once they prove they like each other, yes, you can put them together at night.

 

[theoldchick]

Thanks for posting on this topic, Lewbylew, and hopefully you won't mind if I add a similar question to the thread? If adding, say, TWO chickens to a flock at one time...and the two chickens come from different sources/sellers, do the two chickens need to be housed apart from each other as well as apart from the flock, until they all can be trusted to get along together? Or, do the two chickens bond with each other in the new situation? Thanks for any advice!

If you have the space quarantine the birds in separate areas. You never know what disease new birds may be harboring. Once they pass quarantine introduce the new birds together and if they get along I'd place those two in an area where the other chickens can see them but not get to them.

I used a gogo pen to keep my younger birds protected until I noted the older birds not trying to peck them through the wire.

 

[sezjasper]

Thank you very much for the information--though not quite what I wanted to hear...lol... I will have to be careful to make sure my heart doesn't run away with my head!

 

[Lewbylew99]

Thankyou for your comments on the thread! My dad has made her friends with one of them and now 2 more to go and im going to try what my dad did on the other 2 wish me luck everybody! Now the ones that are friends stick up for eachother...