- Jan 23, 2013
- 28
- 1
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Dear All
I need your advice. I have a friend who already has an established flock of chickens. I hope that she will forgive me that I don't know what they are. I think they may be Cochins?? Frizzles?? Well whatever they are (and unsure how many she also has atm), she got them roughly around Spring last year and raised from chicks.
They seem to be bantam sized/possibly slightly bigger. They look small to me in the piccies as I've got bulk standard hybrid layers of varying sizes.
Anyway, someone has very kindly given her 2 larger chickens, who true to form are sorting out the pecking order by drawing blood (particularly on 1 individual).
I've told her the standard things of isolating the bullies from the flock etc etc. And I've texted her with various different internet sites which have useful advice or helpful forums like BYC. Perhaps she'll even end up reading this thread!
However I cant see anywhere, where anyone offers advice on how to integrate 2 larger (maybe older) hens into an established flock of smaller birds.
What I wondered was is this actually possible as the new birds are so much bigger?
I remember very clearly what it was like last year for me when I added 2 additional point of lay hens and then a further 6 point of lay to the 2 hens I'd originally been gifted with by my neighbour when she was moving. My neighbours 2 birds consistently beat up all the other birds and I ended up separating them in the end for about 2-3 months before integration finally happened. But the new birds I had were at least a similiar size. It was an extremely stressful time and I was resigned to having to keep the 2 flocks completely seperate together when they just clicked and bonded.
What do you think?? Has anyone successfully been able to introduce larger full grown older birds into a flock of smaller chickens. If so please advise how you managed it.
Regards
Madame Cluck Cluck
I need your advice. I have a friend who already has an established flock of chickens. I hope that she will forgive me that I don't know what they are. I think they may be Cochins?? Frizzles?? Well whatever they are (and unsure how many she also has atm), she got them roughly around Spring last year and raised from chicks.
They seem to be bantam sized/possibly slightly bigger. They look small to me in the piccies as I've got bulk standard hybrid layers of varying sizes.
Anyway, someone has very kindly given her 2 larger chickens, who true to form are sorting out the pecking order by drawing blood (particularly on 1 individual).
I've told her the standard things of isolating the bullies from the flock etc etc. And I've texted her with various different internet sites which have useful advice or helpful forums like BYC. Perhaps she'll even end up reading this thread!
However I cant see anywhere, where anyone offers advice on how to integrate 2 larger (maybe older) hens into an established flock of smaller birds.
What I wondered was is this actually possible as the new birds are so much bigger?
I remember very clearly what it was like last year for me when I added 2 additional point of lay hens and then a further 6 point of lay to the 2 hens I'd originally been gifted with by my neighbour when she was moving. My neighbours 2 birds consistently beat up all the other birds and I ended up separating them in the end for about 2-3 months before integration finally happened. But the new birds I had were at least a similiar size. It was an extremely stressful time and I was resigned to having to keep the 2 flocks completely seperate together when they just clicked and bonded.
What do you think?? Has anyone successfully been able to introduce larger full grown older birds into a flock of smaller chickens. If so please advise how you managed it.
Regards
Madame Cluck Cluck
