adding 2 new girls

[Clayperry27]

HELP.......I have two 7 month olds girls that have been laying eggs on a regular time schedule. I just added 2 more from the same place I got the first 2 and they are all the same age.. how ever the first 2 seem to be picking on the new girls really bad so I added a roost up high for the 2 newbies.. the 2 I had can not fly up as high, so the new girls seem to have a place to get-a-way..one has laid an egg in the nest box. The second just dropped one while on the roost I put in. I put in a water cup (auto feed) also on the high roost so they have water. I stand in the coop to give them all scratch in the mornings. That way I can run heard over them and let the new girls feed... Should this take about 2 weeks or so, for them to calm down. Should I start thinking about a nest box up high....???? Or will she start using the nest box?

 

[sourland]

Make sure that they have access to feed and water, and eventually they will integrate. Very likely the new hens will stop laying until they get over the stress of their new environment. It is even possible that the original hens may stop laying for a while. Chickens hate change.

 

[Clayperry27]

I was figuring on no eggs for a while from the new girls but as it turns out, Our girls who where here have not stopped..and One of the new girls has given me an egg every day in the nest box and the other,... well yesterday Her 2nd day, she jumped up on the new roost at afternoon feeding and dropped an egg (hit the sand with a thud...but did not break...wow) then an hour later she dropped a 2nd egg which had hardly any shell on it ( and very soft what was there) ..I got worried and stayed with the girls for an hour or so and she was ok and all is well this morning. WOW??????

 

[sherrydeanne]

As long as the oldies and newbies stick with each other, they'll be fine. I would only worry if one of the newbies integrates and the other doesn't (within a day or two). The funky egg thing is to be expected, don't worry. I wouldn't give them separate roosting/drinking/eating spaces, honestly; it just prolongs the integrating IMHO.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Afraid I’ll have to disagree with that one. One way chickens have worked out to live together is that when there is a conflict, the weaker runs away from the stronger or just avoids then to start with. One of the worst places I’ve seen for brutality during integration is on the roosts when they are settling in for the night unless they have plenty of room to get away from the bully. Those high roosts allow them to get away and avoid, day and night.

By providing separate food and water, you help them avoid confrontation. It’s a common tactic for the stronger to intimidate the weaker to maintain pecking order status. That’s part of what is going on. They are determining the pecking order.

It sounds like something else is going on too. Chickens can be territorial. They know who belongs in their flock and who doesn’t. It doesn’t happen all the time but occasionally a chicken will try to run off or attack a strange chicken. Sometimes they welcome them into the flock. They are not consistent about this.

There are a lot of things they are not consistent about. There is a difference in what might possibly happen and what definitely will happen 100% of each and every time. Stopping egg laying when there is a change, for example. Some do, some don’t.

They will eventually work out the integration issues. How long will that take? Who knows? If you have a large group of people in a room, why are some too warm, some too cool, and some just right? They are all different. It may take days, it may take weeks; they are all different. But they will work it out.

It won’t hurt a thing to put a nest up there if you can as long as they don’t start sleeping in it. That’s the risk, so make it lower than that high roost. You can leave it up there as long as it doesn’t cause a roosting problem or remove it when they work it out. Just go with the flow.

Don’t worry about that second soft-shelled egg. In all the excitement and stress, her internal egg laying machine messed up and released a second yolk before it should have. If they release two yolks at the same time when they mess up like that, you get a double yolked egg. When a second yolk is released a little later, the shell gland often does not have enough shell material to cover a second egg so it is very thin-shelled or even shell-less. If she makes a habit of it after they settle down you may have a hen with a genetic defect, but right now I would not worry about it.