combining 2 small groups from brooders to coop and run. Aggression..

[tampico96]

I'm new to the board as a poster, but lurked during the plannning/constuction of my coop/run. Before I get to my question, i'll give a little background about my daughters chickens.

In May I ordered some bantam chicks for my daughter and for a friend. I ordered 8 white silkies for my daughter and 6 seabrights for a friend. Shortly after the order arrived the friend decideds not to take the seabrights. To add to the problem, the breeder also added 2 blue silkies and 2 black silkies to the shippment as freebies. Nice gesture, but now I have more than I had hoped for. The chicks were kept in the house in 2 35 gallon totes while small and then in two dog crates while the outside construction took place. My daughter would take all outside during the day all summer long and bring them in for the night.

The birds have been kept apart in the evening the whole time. Silkies (whites and blues) and the seabrights in another. When out side, this is how they would group too. They would never group together no matter how much my daughter would herd them together. They would still seperate.

Now the outside structures are done. 4x8 coop and a 8x8 run. When the birds moved in, they still stay seperated. Little quarls break out, but I thought that the longer they were together, that they would soon mesh. At the end of the first week, the seabrights took control of the waterer. I bought a second to fix this. Then they took ownership of the feeder. I bought a 2nd. The seabrights are now guarding the ramp to the coop.

So here are my questions.

Am I fighting a loosing battle and the groups are set?
remedy, build another run/coop or give a group away.

Could the problem be not enough space for the number of birds? they are so small and there seems to be planty of room.

thanks for any help ....

 

[Omeletta]

Good grief! Women!

( I can say this cuz I'm a women, men would be, or should be killed for this) (joking about the killing part, too, I have a man, and do not intend to maim him any time soon)

The only thing that I can think of is to have a separate run during the day, which is cheaper than a coop, and make sure to put them in the coop only after dark, or at dusk. This obviously wouldn't work for bad weather. Hopefully someone else with more experience can come along and help you out!

Hope you find a solution! If you are not partial to the seabrights, you can always rehome them, in case no solution is found.