Added Silkies to my Orpington Coop

[whudson]

That didn't last more than a minute!

My gentle, easy going Roo went on instant Rage attack.

He Ran full speed from one end of the run, into the coop, and grabbed the silkie.
I pushed him aside and he started beating those wings and left.

I stood there contemplating what to do next, and here he comes again - full speed.


So, the 2 silkie hens are spending the night in the garage.

If I put a separate pen beside the current run for a few days, are they guaranteed to accept each other eventually, or is it hit & miss?

Also, is the roo just trying to show his dominance, or would he actually kill them?

 

[The Chicken Lady]

It might be a good idea to put the new chickens inside a separate pen inside the run for several days, just so that they can talk to each other and get used to one another. (Remember to move them to a warm place at night to sleep).

Make sure you do plenty of distracting things the day you remove the Silkies from the pen. Give the chickens a cabbage or other tasty treats, move locations of their food and water if you can, add more bedding to the coop, rearrange everyone on the roost at night... The more you do to distract them, the less they'll be able to focus on the new birds because they won't have time to concentrate on them.