Chicken bullying! Help!

[gupgup]

Hi everyone! I have a flock of six chickens, three of which we’ve had since last April, and three of which we got recently (August). Our new chickens, which are around 6 months old and were purchased as pullets, were recently integrated with our old flock. We carried them at night and placed them into the coop. They’ve been sharing a space for a little under a week. However, the old ones bully the new ones, and currently have started trapping the new chickens in the coop and keeping them from exiting, which is disturbing as the food and water is in the run. To my knowledge, the chickens don’t physically injure one another, but the younger chickens are very skittery and terrified of the older ones. Does anyone have any advice on how to integrate these groups more successfully? I‘m worried about the little guys

 

[nuthatched]

So you just put them out there at night? Usually you have them on either side of fence for a few weeks for them to get used to each other, you can try that. put food and water in the coop.

 

[gupgup]

So you just put them out there at night? Usually you have them on either side of fence for a few weeks for them to get used to each other, you can try that. put food and water in the coop.

We have two separate runs a few feet across from each other. For about three weeks, we’d let them freerange at the same time, however the young ones simply got bullied when they interacted. We figured that the harrassment wasn’t going to improve with time and just went ahead with it and moved them into the new coop at night in hopes that it would trick the older ones into thinking they‘ve always been there (it didn’t work). I’ve put food and water in the coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any photos of your set up?

Is the run a big empty space or does it have clutter https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/ to provide birds with hiding places?

Before you put extra food and water in the coop, how many feeders did you have?

 

[Jackiravida]

Hello I am new to being a mother hen. I had the same issue, I had 6 pullets from April and then had to find homes for two that ended up being Roosters (we can only have hens and it broke my heart because I fell in love with one) I then got 2 pullets in July and the older ones were relentless in bullying. I kept them separate for a month putting the babies in a play pen. Then I moved them outside at night in a crate next to the main run. Then I opened the run so that the babies could go in with the mean girls But could escape to their crate. Then I moved the crate into the coop eventually leaving crate door open. Stil my leader of the pecking order (renamed Cruella) would just terrorize them. So I now put a new perch into the coop higher then the perch the mean girls sit on and voile the terrorizing has almost come to an end. It was a process but I still feed the younger ones treats first and I do have a couple of feeding stations around the yard. That Cruella I told her if she didn’t stop I was going to put her in the pressure cooker lol.

 

[gupgup]

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your help! I think the issue may be resolved. I put hiding spots (that they couldn’t get trapped in) in the run and added a second feeder. They don’t seem to like each other very much, but they’re no longer bullying or being bullied. I think that it was likely just new-home pecking order establishment- I worry easily about my chickens Thank you guys!