Shawneeinwa
In the Brooder
- Apr 29, 2020
- 9
- 18
- 21
Hello all, thank you in advance for your help.
I recently realized out of our 5 chicks we got at the end of march we had a rooster. I swapped him back to the friend I had got them from and I got a new (younger) hen. The problem is this little hen is significantly smaller than our other 4. The original 4 are roughly 16 weeks old, while the new chicken in approx 8 weeks I'm guessing, a large difference in size, and introducing a new 1 into existing 4. I hung out in the coop with them all and its clear they all (but one) want to chase her and gang up. For now I have divided one of the coop rooms with a clear screen divider so they are together but separated. They don't all have day access to the run with this setup, I am just alternating them back and forth.
My question is, how long should I expect to keep them this way? Out of our original 4 one of them couldn't care less about the new chicken, can I put the 2 of them together, and keep the bossy 3 separate? My thought are if the one takes to her now, and they start roosting together etc the new one will be accepted quicker?
I recently realized out of our 5 chicks we got at the end of march we had a rooster. I swapped him back to the friend I had got them from and I got a new (younger) hen. The problem is this little hen is significantly smaller than our other 4. The original 4 are roughly 16 weeks old, while the new chicken in approx 8 weeks I'm guessing, a large difference in size, and introducing a new 1 into existing 4. I hung out in the coop with them all and its clear they all (but one) want to chase her and gang up. For now I have divided one of the coop rooms with a clear screen divider so they are together but separated. They don't all have day access to the run with this setup, I am just alternating them back and forth.
My question is, how long should I expect to keep them this way? Out of our original 4 one of them couldn't care less about the new chicken, can I put the 2 of them together, and keep the bossy 3 separate? My thought are if the one takes to her now, and they start roosting together etc the new one will be accepted quicker?
