Adding 2 hens to a group of 12?

[sheeshshe]

She is doing GREAT!!! Amazing! Now my other friend wants to give me hers, I was going to wait and put them in together, but my first friend couldn't wait.

 

[Lindalu1450]

I'm trying to integrate 3 EE's (2 hens, 1 Rooster) with my 3 original Bantam Hens. The EE's ended up taking over the coop and forced the Bantams to roost in the barn. So I built a brooder coop in the barn, hoping they would decide to sleep with the others when they got used to each other. 22 weeks later, and they still sleep separate. Not sure what to do... I'll want to use that coop in the barn to raise babies next spring.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

I'm trying to integrate 3 EE's (2 hens, 1 Rooster) with my 3 original Bantam Hens. The EE's ended up taking over the coop and forced the Bantams to roost in the barn. So I built a brooder coop in the barn, hoping they would decide to sleep with the others when they got used to each other. 22 weeks later, and they still sleep separate. Not sure what to do... I'll want to use that coop in the barn to raise babies next spring.

I have noticed some breeds dominate among my own flock, and was actually considering splitting the flock to *some* extent if it becomes too much of a problem ...

The 'somewhat' I was considering is a double-decker design to the chicken coop w/ the floor being pitched at an angle, so as to provide higher roosts in both sections (and easier cleaning).

I've already seen improvements by simply rotating my dividers to leave the ends open (all still have full access, but it visually divides the space up a bit, which seems to eliminate havin' things escalate ~'-)

At the more extreme end? Divide by wire, and keep 'em that way in the same coop 'til they've relearned which area they belong in ... may sound impossible, but I've seen those ... bubbles of space, I guess ... that my birds sorta dare others to linger too long w/in, and I recognized it from when I used to breed fish. I manipulated the dividers, rotated the space, changed the lighting ... all things disrupted their positioning for short periods, but they eventually arranged themselves pretty much the way they'd been before.

But, then again? I'm more like the mad professor, micro-managing multiple experiments (ya might not wanna put in quite so much time as I do ~'-)