Adopted hen being bullied!

[bellschick]

I was just reading all this on integrating one new hen and it is hard but it can be done SLOWLY. You guys give good sound advise.

 

[GPowell]

I made that (ROOKIE) mistake and added one black australorp to my 2 gold buff orpingtons 5 days ago. It took until today for the orps to somewhat except her......but not fully yet. The matriarch hen is not the overly aggressive one, its the minion orpington that is the problem. When all three are in the run area of the coop, the minion hen starts to push, peck and plain out bully the australorp. When the door is open to free range around the yard they tolerate each other with an occasional charge, push or peck. I spent a lot of time watching and observing the 3 over the past 5 days, with the occasional referee to stop something when I felt it was getting out of control. 99 percent of the time I spent out by the coop I just had to let it be.
Good luck. They dont have to like each other but in time they will tolerate each other.

 

[SwedishDude99]

Thankyou guys! They already seem to be nicer towards her. They haven't been chasing her as much, but she seems to mostly hang out in the coop and not in the run where the other girls are. They really only peck her out there. When you say you hang up a tarp for her to hide under, what do you mean by that? Do you have a picture by chance? I mean, can't the other chickens jus chase her under it and continue to attack her?

 

[Amina]

I don't have a picture of the tarp hanging up, but I can get one tomorrow morning if you want. Basically we attached it to the ceiling of the run and had it hanging so that a small area of the run would not be visible from the largest part of the run. So she could just go behind it if another hen chased her but wasn't super intent on it... For more aggressive/persistent attacks, she would actually go completely under the bit of tarp that was laying across the ground. She'd find spots where the tarp had crinkled up to make a little tunnel for her, and she'd go in there so she would be completely underneath the tarp where it was dark. I suppose another hen could have also gone under there, but since it's such a dark tight space, I don't think they ever did. Does that make sense?

 

[SwedishDude99]

Oh okay that makes sense now. I will be trying that tomorrow. Thanks!!!

 

[CooperDooper]

Great thread to read through.
I just adopted a 18 week old barred rock/brahma buff mix that I am isolating for now but plan to add to my flock. I have 3 hens that are 14 mos old as well as a roo and a pullet that we hatched that are 19 weeks old. I am hoping that the similarity in age of the younger ones will help the introduction. How is everything with your flock now, Swedish Dude?

Also - any advice on length of isolation? The poor thing is in a dog crate in my garage.... Is 2 weeks enough to see signs of most diseases? My friend hatched her from his own chickens. He has a flock of 25 or so seemingly healthy birds.

Thanks!

 

[w8ing4eggs]

Also had a similar experience. Adopted a friend's 20 week old RSL - same age as 3 of mine, but much smaller. She was about the size of my other hens, and larger than the two smallest. Tried to integrate too soon and had to fix her up a small penned area of the coop. That lasted about a week and a half.

She was bullied by the smallest hen - lowest in the pecking order. Even now, 4 weeks later she is chased around by the original flock. No blood or anything bad, but she can't eat when/where they eat. If I give treats I have to give her some separately or she will not get any. She is usually on a roost alone when the others are scratching about and seems to be nervous all the time.

I agree that integrating just ONE is not the best idea!