Adding buff orpingtons to group of Barred Hollands

herbsherbsflowers

Songster
11 Years
May 25, 2008
152
2
119
Covington, GA
Well, I got rushed and did not get to think through the process of integrating these new birds in with my flock. Neither set is very old. I wanted a couple of chickens that would lay larger eggs and that would be easy to tell apart for raising chicks. A friend had extra BO pullets and I took two. I had them in a tractor for several days in the yard but they weren't really close to each other. They could see each other. Anyway my DH is leaving to go out of town tomorrow and I wanted to get them in. We tried this morning to put one in and it was crazy. Fortunately she ran up the ramp to the coop and my husband closed her up in there. We put the other one in there also and left them closed up all day with food and water. The original chickens stayed out and complained most of the day. Anyway, at night, we let the BH's in and they fluffed around and got settled on their roost and pretty much ignored the new chickens. So now we hope that they will all just come out as friends tomorrow morning. We may be able to catch them and put them in a dog crate in the pen to get them used to each other tomorrow if necessary. That could involve a lot of running and screaming and I don't know if it will be worth it. Just we just let them work it out in the morning?
 
I hope for your sake it is just a couple of hours, but it may take much longer than that. Good luck
 
We are going to be letting them out soon and I am a little worried about how it is going to go. I hope someone has some encouragement for us this morning. I will continue to write how things go.
 
Well, now the BH's hve come out like usual but the BO's are just staying in the coop. I hope they won't just stay in there and starve to death. I don't know if I should give them food and water again like yesterday or force them to come out if they want something. The problem is, they don't really know that the food and water is out there. Should we try to take them out and put them in a dog crate inside the pen so that they get to know each other. This has become harder than I thought it would be.
 
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I would put them out and let them adjust . It may take some time , BUT it has to be done .

Coops are for laying , roosting and sleeping . they NEED to daylight hours and fresh air . Scratching and dusting .... THEY WILL ADJUST , trust me , I have over 100 head .
 
One of the Buff Orpingtons has come out of the coop. She is kind of hanging out in the corner by herself but the other guys are leaving her alone. The other one is still in the coop up on a roost. She seems interested in coming out but not enough. She may be the one they attacked yesterday. I hope she will come on out.
 
no matter what,, they WILL establish a pecking order,, the longer you keep them apart, the longer it'll be till THEY straighten it all out. there WILL be chasing, there WILL be feather plucking,, and there WILL be "get away from MY food"
let em out,, let em fight it over,, just keep a stick or broom close by in case theres a BIG fight,, but if you stop the little fights,, they will never sort it out.IMO


EDIT: cuz i kant spel
 
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