Can't we just all get along...?! (How do I "blend" 2 flocks?)

[Granolamom]

Okay, I have 2 chickens from an original flock (Chuck and Frieda, both 5 1/2 months old, and acting like a "lil' old married couple"), and then there are my 4-month old new girls, who we got about a month ago.
Chuck and Frieda refuse to accept them into their flock, and harrass them every chance they get. The new girls don't get to eat until Chuck and Frieda are full (sometimes not even then...), and if they so much as look at them the wrong way, they get pecked and chased off. They all sleep in the same coop, but Chuck and Frieda are on the roost, and the 5 girls huddle on top of the nesting boxes, as far away from the two big ones, as possible, and there's poop EVERYWHERE, because they refuse to move from there until I let them all out the next morning. The 5 little ones are scared to death of Chuck and Frieda, and after a month of this, I'm kind of over it, too. Can I do anything to get them to "blend" into one flock?

 

[okiemommy]

I don't have experience in this area yet, but I have read on here many times that it is important to set up a separate pen that is close to the older birds, to put the new birds in. That way they can get used to them before you put them together. You might try to do that, and it may work even if you've already tried to put them together. I hope someone comes along that can give you more specific information.

 

[Crest Acres Girl]

I think they will be fine as long as they arnt stuck in the coop all day, just have to separate feeding places and throw a bunch of scratch on the ground to keep them busy for a month or two. It took my old girls 3 months to get used to the newbies and till this day they still get picked on because they are the lowest on the pecking order

. I dont think separating them is necessary unless chuck and frieda is really out to get your new ones.

Good luck!

 

[chookchick]

Is there any way you can create an area with a doorway "just big enough" for the girls to get through, but not enough for the others? They could have their own feed and water in there--so you know they are able to eat. (I'm picturing them going nyah nyah to Chuck and Freida!)

 

[ears73]

I had to integrate three new birds (black star) into a mixed flock of 7. It took two weeks for them to begin free-ranging together. Then, a month later, a friend had to get rid of her 5 hens (cochins & jersey giants) and we took them. That was two weeks ago, they still have not gotten friendly enough to travel with the flock, but the new five had been seriously beaten up by the previous flock they had lived with (RIR)... They all stay in the 10x10 coop until about 1:30pm and no one is beating anyone up, so it is good so far... I'd say it just takes time.