Adding new chickens to flock

[lox18]

Thanks cafarmgirl

 

[Chicken-Man]

I have 3 full grown hens and they have grown up with each other their whole life

, and I bought a little Pilkie and my girls would have killed it if I didn't take her out. Sadly I had to give the Pilkie back, I kiss her lots, and I have ordered 2 new chickens and we are hoping they will be about 10 weeks old ish. But I'm really scared my current hens will kill them. I have done lots of research but haven't found it all 100% helpful. what's some great ways to make sure the new girls will be Ok? I know their will be some pecking but I really want to keep them as safe as I can. All help is very appreciated. thanks guys.

 

[jennygibs]

Glad to find this thread. I've got a bad case of the "integrating blues" here! I was given 2 "meat" hens by mistake and they now take up most of the space in our brooder which was supposed to accommodate the 6 new chicks we got. I turned them all out into the coop last night and this morning all six were in a nesting box together with the two fat ones on top! That was fine, but by the time I took the kids to school and got back, our 6 one year old girls had drew blood from one of the cornish (?) hens and had terrorized everyone else. Right now I've put the babies in the coop (everyone was done laying for the day) and left the older ones out in the run. It's really frustrating because if I had just been given the right chicks in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue right now. But all six of them are not fitting in that brooder anymore! Guess I'll be doing as suggested and partitioning off part of the run for the babies, I just hope it doesn't take months for them to become accustomed to each other!! As for the two fat ones, we still haven't decided what to do about them..

 

[9chickysandRI]

I am so glad I'm not alone with my chicken drama... My 3 hens attack anything and everything. My daughter brought home to chicks a roo and pullet we fenced off a little pin for them to be close and grow get used to each other 6 months ago and they still refuse to accept them. My poor rooster lost his tail feathers from the 3 hens constantly attacking him and now we had to separate him from the pullet he came with Bc he is really aggressive with her and his "manly" ways.... Any suggestions on getting some acceptance