bullying and introducing¬

[lou95-xox]

Hey i am in desperate need of help
A few days ago, i had 3 chickens. 2 amber stars and one orpington, all females. sadly one of my amber stars died, and we were devestated. So the next day, we got to the farm as soon as possible, and bought a new brown hen. As soon as we introduced her, they started pecking. its been 2 days now, and still, as soon as she comes near the others, she is chased away
is this going to go on forever! and everyone has said to seperate the bully but this is not possible!
what do i do?!?! im really upset because i have to give her back friday if theres no improvements
does this mean they will never be friends??
thankyou
xxxxxxx

 

[44later]

i had this same problm introduce the new one thro the fencing for 2-3 weeks that did it for me hope i helped

 

[matthewschickens]

Make her a house chicken

 

[lou95-xox]

hehe i wishh!!
although my parents lover her....not that much

So who do i fence off??
the bully or the victim??
x

 

[matthewschickens]

Put her in a seperate cage next to the "bad guys" and if you free range let them out together. Soon they will get used to each other

 

[al6517]

There will always be some pecking until her order in the flock can be established, this will always be the case regardless of what many people say, seperating doesn't work. I always put them in a large cage in the coop for a couple of weeks and this seems to help, also if you have more than one bird to introduce together, it goes a little smoother. I intro young birds into my main flock all the time from egg's I hatch and this method works well.

AL

 

[lou95-xox]

ok well my chicks are free range and have been minglin for 2 days now.
theres 2 gardens for them to run about in and lots of places to hide, do you think this is ok then?
no run needed?xx

 

[matthewschickens]

Quote:
I think it is fine

Just keep an eye on them

 

[Lynn in Texas]

Would you please tell us how young the chicks were that are introduced successfully into the established flock? The hatcheries were out of about 5 varieties that I really wanted this year and I'm dying to figure out how to pull off some new ones next year. The ones I have (80 of them ) are a very mixed flock of all docile breeds and everyone (at 5 weeks old) is getting along great, from Jersey Giants down to Sebright bantams. They are in a large coop and 12 x 20 fully enclosed run right now and will have access to 6 acres of free range when they are old enough. We have a family of hawks at the end of the road but have field fencing on the entire perimiter of the pasture to discourage dogs. I hope the hawks don't do too much damage. There's lots of trees and blackberry bushes and stuff for cover if my guys can just figure it out.

 

[matthewschickens]

I would say at least 20 weeks old...