Adding to the flock behaviour ?

[Saunto]

Hi guys and girls . New to chickens I started 3 weeks ago with 3 ( 2 redco 1 rhode rock ) in an eglu cube with a extra 1m extension . They settled in really quick and one is laying already .
Anyways we decided we wanted to add 3 more so yesterday I got a light Sussex , barred rock and a blue haze ( plenty of colour lol ) . So in they went . The pecking and fighting started immediately, I was guessing this would happen but still not nice to see . The original gang are keeping the new girls from the food and water . No problem food and water at both ends of the coop.
My main concern is when I let them out this morning 2 of the new girls would not come out So I had to persuade them . I've now gone to work but I have spoken to the boss indoors and she has told me they have gone back in and stayed put . Is this normal ?
Anything else I can do to make sure we all get along ?
Thanks

 

[dusica731]

Following! I have 10 8 week olds in the coop and 7 3 weeks - day olds in the brooder. I myself was wondering what the best way to introduce everyone ( come time) without causing stress on any of them or being pecked to peices...

 

[Loghousemom]

I have had very good luck keeping different ages of chickens separated by a wire fence for a few weeks, or until the babies were similar in size to the adults. Then I let the "current residents" out to free range for a few hours and lock up the coop while letting the newbies access to the coop to explore. I do this for a couple of days. Then the third or fourth day I let them all out to free range together.

I have had very little aggression towards new chickens using this method aside from typical pecking order shifting when the new ones come in.

It also helps to integrate more chickens than just one or two at a time. The fewer the number of new ones, the more it seems they are picked on. So if you have 5 chickens and introduce 1, it is likely that one will get pecked on by all the "residents". If you have 5 and introduce 3 then they are sharing in the order shift so each will only get a third of the pecks.