Added a chicken today...should I be worried about...

[Faso]

Should i be worried that my new olive egger whom is 3 months younger is getting bullied on her first day in the coop? What if she doesn't follow into the coop to roost? Just let her be? I saw my RIR chicken bother her and she is terrified now. Not sure if there is anything i can do except let her be and let them work it out. I only had 2 and now i added this one as i lost one earlier in the week. The olive egger is a little smaller than the other two.

any thoughts or suggestions?

Mike

 

[sourland]

New chickens get picked on. It's the nature of the pecking order. As long as they are not physically injuring her, let them work things out. Realistically, you should have quarantined the new chicken, but hopefully she is healthy. Good luck - chicken society can be quite cruel.

 

[3 Chicks]

I will be doing exactly the same thing later this week. After reading on this site, I plan to have the new chicken in the pen with the other 2 but behind chicken wire for awhile just so they can check each other out. Then, I'm going to let them free range for a while to see how they do. Finally, I will officially put them together.

I would be curious to see how yours do since I have such similar circumstances

 

[chickielove87]

I have 13 chickens all together. Reds, Silkies, Easter Egger's, and Americana's. The Reds and Americana's are still chicks (4 weeks old) and the others are 6-7 months old. Everyone gets along alright. The chicks are bullied a bit by one of the EE hen's but all the rest pretty much leave them alone, even the Rooster. The chicks only get picked on mainly at feeding time in the morning or at random times through out the day, but not for more than a peck or two.
They also DO NOT go into the coop with the other chickens at night, so every night I go out and put them in the coop with the rest of them and close the door for the night. The other two times I've added new chickens to the flock I've done the same and eventually they start to go into the coop with the rest of them at night. Doesn't usually take too long.

 

[Faso]

I'll let you know how it goes over the next few days. She found the coop and I watched her walk in. I closed the door so she begins to learn that's where to roost and sleep. I'll do the same for the next few nights until she is consistently going in at dusk on her own without my lead.

 

[Faso]

Well... Update... They are still picking on her. She is not eating much unless I had the feeder near her as she is sitting perched up away from the other two. Not sure what to do other than block where she was perched to make sure they are by each other... Any thoughts?