Good morning everyone from South Africa. We have had 4 chickens since June 2008. They are wonderful and have done us well with eggs and comanionship. They have a large coop and free range daily for about and hour. We have dogs that would like to eat them so we cannot leave them out all the time. However, we feel we have need of more eggs and want to add another 2 ladies to our flock. I know that establishing the pecking order is part of nature, I just find it so hard to watch the new additions go through this. I also know it takes about 2 weeks to settle down...so I was wondering if anyone has some ideas how I can make this transition go smoother for the new girls? We will be getting them from a trusted source on Saturday (24hrs). Thank you!
I know there are many posts about integrating chickens, but I agree its tough! Good luck! And let me know how it goes. Now my own experience of late... I have a 16 week old that is pretty large and I followed the tips and put her in with my 6 month old pullete (3 of them)at night (after they were housed close by as well for many weeks and free ranged in the yard together as well). And one of my reds wasted no time (yes even after dark) letting her know who was boss by giving her a swift peck to the nose...drawing blood. So I fixed her up and then she proceded to imitate the behavior to my other chicks she had been with for 6 weeks. Integration isn't fun and I can't wait to learn more on this thread.
