Chicken Fight

[ChickenBeak]

My older chickens are saying hi to their new coop mates (4 month old pullets) and they don't like it.
They started fighting and the little ones retreated as a group to a safe corner.(3 of them,1 got eaten by a hawk)Naturally we separated them.I really don't want to build a coop for pullets.What should I do?

 

[ChickenBeak]

...

My older chickens are saying hi to their new coop mates (4 month old pullets) and they don't like it.
They started fighting and the little ones retreated as a group to a safe corner.(3 of them,1 got eaten by a hawk)Naturally we separated them.I really don't want to build a coop for pullets.What should I do?[edit]]The chickens are the predators

 

[123RedBeard]

They should be in a separate area fenced off to "look, but don't touch/peck" for a few days to a week ... then add a big/older one and only one, preferably one low on the pecking order... to the small ones "area" ... see how they do ... over time/days, add another big/older one to the mix...

 

[Mutt Farm]

Here's an article you might find useful. Best of luck.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

 

[ChickenBeak]

Ok thanks I will try this.

 

[aart]

Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

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. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


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 blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, 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 and/or up and away from any bully birds.

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

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[arkwelded]

we let our chicks out in the yard with the big girls at like 3 weeks, during the day. at night they go into our grow out coop for another 2 weeks or so. then i put them into the big roost at night, sometimes it has to be done 3 or 4 times as they camp outside the grow out coop. lol. they always have issues, but nothing that isnt worked out in a week.

we have started integrating like this and our birds are very comfortable with this process. i would recommend using a look but dont peck fence if your older birds are not used to young ones, but work torward my process as it makes life easier.

 

[ChickenBeak]

 

[ChickenBeak]

Right now ,we just added a little wire fence and a spot for shade.The red one is shedding.We are adding a roof soon.