Bullying? Or natural pecking order behavior?

[Stargeer2]

Hello! My wife and I just recently lost some chickens, and today decided to get 4 more to replenish the flock! (Of course pictures are included!) In introducing the new chickens to the flock, one of our survivor chickens has been pecking and biting at the new chickens. I know there's a pecking order thing, but some of the holds the survivor has had seemed pretty strong. How do I know when it's bullying and not trying to establish a pecking order? And how can I keep my chickens safe?

Thank you!

 

[harice4806]

How old are the new birds? They ideally should be about the same size as the existing birds. Did you try any form of temporary barrier in the coop/run to let them interact safely before just putting them together? By just putting the new ones in the coop without any sort of temporary confinement it's going to be a much more harsh and possibly violent integration. Could end up with serious injuries.

 

[Stargeer2]

How old are the new birds? They ideally should be about the same size as the existing birds. Did you try any form of temporary barrier in the coop/run to let them interact safely before just putting them together? By just putting the new ones in the coop without any sort of temporary confinement it's going to be a much more harsh and possibly violent integration. Could end up with serious injuries.

I don't really have a good way to put up a safe barrier, so I spent the entire day with them. (I had to beef up security anyways, so I spent literally 12 hours watching them). I did make sure that they are all similarly aged. The new ones are about 2-3 weeks older, but that was as close as I could get. So far none of them appear badly injured, and they are resting in the coop with a mutual disinterest in each other. I set out two watering holes and two food dispensers, so hopefully they'll be okay?

 

[harice4806]

Separate food/water stations is a great help! Spread out their areas so they aren't forced to interact. Even add 3rd feeders/waterers if you have the room (maybe in the run if it's covered?). It's good they're about the same age too. If right now they're just showing some general awareness but not really interacting that's ok. All 3 of my different age groups tend to stick to themselves but coexist somewhat nicely. The youngest are still cautious. If that's how they decide to live that's better than trying to kill each other. Just check on them as much as you can the next few days/weeks until things settle down. Everyone is adjusting - the new birds to their new surroundings and the original birds to their new flock mates. There will be establishment of the pecking order but there shouldn't be bloodshed. Good luck!

 

[aart]

Integration is a whole other kind of pecking order.
Just 'tossing in' a new group of birds rarely goes well.

Here's some tips and links about.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[DanielleOrbach]

Integration is a whole other kind of pecking order.
Just 'tossing in' a new group of birds rarely goes well.

Here's some tips and links about.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

I just got 6 chickens yesterday, 2 hens and 4 pullets. I honestly don't know how old any of them are because I forgot to ask, but the pullets are in about 2 different sizes, and were in the same pen together when we picked them up. The hens were in a different pen but the same as each other. The lady said that they can be combined with no problem, but the hens have been fairly aggressive to the pullets and there really is no way to separate them even though we built an expansion onto the coop we bought because it seemed too small. They also did not have a roost area where we got them so they did not want to go into the roost for the night, but we put them in it for safety and everything seemed fine overnight. We closed the roost for now because the pullets were hiding in there and the hens were trying to get in. We removed the pullets and one of the hens laid an egg, but then the pullets got chased back into the roost which is why we closed it. The hens do seem to be resource guarding, but we don't have much room for more food or water stations. None have been held down, but lots of feather pulling, pecking, and chasing.