- Feb 11, 2013
- 3
- 0
- 7
Hello, yesterday I acquired 6 new chickens (all approx 1-2yo) to blend with my 1 year old flock of 3... It is not going well : (
One of the new chickens (black star) immediately attacked all members of my flock, sending my girls to retreat upstairs. All the new hens hung out downstairs, and one laid out in the open. While retrieving that egg a buff orp snuck out, but shes so docile she came straight to me. I put her on the upper level with my 3 hens. She eventually went down to her flock, and at bed time she was the only new hen to go upstairs to roost. The rest of the new flock slept on roosting bars that I set up on the lower level.
My Australorp is broody, so we moved her to the buster, at which point my other two, although skiddish, went down and mingled a bit in little spurts. My broody escaped the buster and I chose to just let her roam while I cleaned out the coop ( I think that this is part of the reason my other two were willing to go downstairs, to be closer to my broody. Well my broody and the black star kept going at each other thru the fence.
Does anyone have any advice? I'm hoping once I break my broody she'll stop being such a B* and maybe wont confront the black star anymore. But I still worry the black star has marked her as an enemy forever. Help please!!!
PS Upstairs Vs Downstairs... My hubby bought me a pre fabbed coop, but we soon realized there was no way we could confine grown chickens to that small space, so we built an 8x10 4ft tall 'lower run' and put the original tiny coop on top. So now my original hens are cramming upstairs in 3x2 space... hubby is currently out there working on an addition for a full upper level with additional nesting boxes
One of the new chickens (black star) immediately attacked all members of my flock, sending my girls to retreat upstairs. All the new hens hung out downstairs, and one laid out in the open. While retrieving that egg a buff orp snuck out, but shes so docile she came straight to me. I put her on the upper level with my 3 hens. She eventually went down to her flock, and at bed time she was the only new hen to go upstairs to roost. The rest of the new flock slept on roosting bars that I set up on the lower level.
My Australorp is broody, so we moved her to the buster, at which point my other two, although skiddish, went down and mingled a bit in little spurts. My broody escaped the buster and I chose to just let her roam while I cleaned out the coop ( I think that this is part of the reason my other two were willing to go downstairs, to be closer to my broody. Well my broody and the black star kept going at each other thru the fence.
Does anyone have any advice? I'm hoping once I break my broody she'll stop being such a B* and maybe wont confront the black star anymore. But I still worry the black star has marked her as an enemy forever. Help please!!!
PS Upstairs Vs Downstairs... My hubby bought me a pre fabbed coop, but we soon realized there was no way we could confine grown chickens to that small space, so we built an 8x10 4ft tall 'lower run' and put the original tiny coop on top. So now my original hens are cramming upstairs in 3x2 space... hubby is currently out there working on an addition for a full upper level with additional nesting boxes
