I need to try the water gun trick. I'm going to give it a shot the next time I see my bully girl on the attack! Thanks!
Combining two flocks!!! :)
- Thread starter grasjm36
- Start date
Did you get a response to this? I am in the same situation (adding 3 new ones to 3 existing)I am currently trying to add 3 new hens to my original 3 hens. I have 3 Rhode Island Reds about 4 months old that are just starting to lay. The 3 new birds are a silkie, a polish and a buff orphington. They are about the same age, maybe a bit younger. The 3 older girls are not adapting well to the 3 new girls. I have tried everything. Intorducing them at night while roosting, introducing them in a free range situation, intorducing them in the day time supervised. Nothing seems to work. Two of the older girls will" tolerate" the new ones but there is one that seems to be pretty hostile. I have even seperated her from the rest and when I put her back there is is trouble. Especially with her and the buff orphington. I dont want my new girls to get hurt. Since the older ones are now laying I dont want to get rid of them either. I've been seperating them during the day and the older ones are pretty much free range which is becoming a problem since they are laying and we have to do an egg hunt everyday. If anyone has ANY advice, please let me know. Im really at my wits end and do not know what to do.
A lot depends on the space and how the space is set up and the age of the chickens being mixed.
There should not be an empty rectangle for a run, where every chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time. I recently added 3 point of lay pullets, with minimal fuss. I do have a rooster, which may or may not help, if he is a good one. But what I know helps is the clutter in my run. I have two shelters set up, facing different directions, I have a platform about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. And I have two large roosts all in my run. I have pallets leaned against the wall.
It looks cluttered, but chickens can get out of reach and out of sight. They can get away from each other.
As to the age of your birds. Your original birds have home territorial rights, and the new 11 are going to know that they are in a strange place, and that tends to knock back their confidence, but there is more of them. Younger birds have less rights than older birds, so if your birds are all the same age, I would expect this to settle quickly. If however, you have birds that are 8 weeks old, and they are full grown, it will be more difficult, and you should take more time.
Generally what happens, is there is a bit of chest bumping, bluster, a bit of peck and run. If that is all, leave them be, but check on them through out the day. Or there can be a heartless pursuit that is kind of horrible. If that happens, what generally is the case, is that there is one or two that are just merciless, and the others follow their lead. If so, pulling them out for a few days generally helps.
Once in a while, you will get some birds that just do not work in that flock. Accept that and sell them. They often work well in someone else's setup. They are not worth the constant strife in the flock. Pull them out, and see how your flock behaves. If they relax, you will sense the tension fall away. Sell that or those birds. If it doesn't, try a different bird.
When you mention space, as in really large, that can be deceiving. If you have constant strife in your flock, which I dispise, sell some birds. Some birds can take overcrowding, some cannot. 15 birds will need a 60 sq foot building - so 6 x 10, 8x8 or something similar. and should have at least a 150 sq ft run, so 15 x 10, or bigger. Currently have have a dozen in 600 square foot run, and I like that. Do not think that 'free ranging' will make up for a too small run or coop.
Just for clarification, you are not quarantining with a wire fence separating the birds. They are all sharing the air. Ten to one, you have visited this person, and she/he has visited your set up, so quarantine is a moot point. You are risking a wreck by bringing in new birds, but if they have healthy where they are, they will probably be healthy with yours, but it is a valid risk.
Mrs K
There should not be an empty rectangle for a run, where every chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time. I recently added 3 point of lay pullets, with minimal fuss. I do have a rooster, which may or may not help, if he is a good one. But what I know helps is the clutter in my run. I have two shelters set up, facing different directions, I have a platform about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. And I have two large roosts all in my run. I have pallets leaned against the wall.
It looks cluttered, but chickens can get out of reach and out of sight. They can get away from each other.
As to the age of your birds. Your original birds have home territorial rights, and the new 11 are going to know that they are in a strange place, and that tends to knock back their confidence, but there is more of them. Younger birds have less rights than older birds, so if your birds are all the same age, I would expect this to settle quickly. If however, you have birds that are 8 weeks old, and they are full grown, it will be more difficult, and you should take more time.
Generally what happens, is there is a bit of chest bumping, bluster, a bit of peck and run. If that is all, leave them be, but check on them through out the day. Or there can be a heartless pursuit that is kind of horrible. If that happens, what generally is the case, is that there is one or two that are just merciless, and the others follow their lead. If so, pulling them out for a few days generally helps.
Once in a while, you will get some birds that just do not work in that flock. Accept that and sell them. They often work well in someone else's setup. They are not worth the constant strife in the flock. Pull them out, and see how your flock behaves. If they relax, you will sense the tension fall away. Sell that or those birds. If it doesn't, try a different bird.
When you mention space, as in really large, that can be deceiving. If you have constant strife in your flock, which I dispise, sell some birds. Some birds can take overcrowding, some cannot. 15 birds will need a 60 sq foot building - so 6 x 10, 8x8 or something similar. and should have at least a 150 sq ft run, so 15 x 10, or bigger. Currently have have a dozen in 600 square foot run, and I like that. Do not think that 'free ranging' will make up for a too small run or coop.
Just for clarification, you are not quarantining with a wire fence separating the birds. They are all sharing the air. Ten to one, you have visited this person, and she/he has visited your set up, so quarantine is a moot point. You are risking a wreck by bringing in new birds, but if they have healthy where they are, they will probably be healthy with yours, but it is a valid risk.
Mrs K
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What are their ages? Are they all laying?
So I have 3 2-year olds and 3 almost 5 month olds. My coop has a run and I can open up the run to lead into a "chicken" yard - a fenced off area. Once the young chicks were feathered I brought them out into their small coop with a run (set up in the fenced chicken yard) so the older chickens could see them as they got bigger. Once big enough, I let them out into the chicken yard and they didn't get picked on until I threw down treats. 2 of the older ones scared them off (thankfully no blood shed), but they are so timid now they won't eat the treats I throw down until the older ones leave or they leave without getting any treats (I free range also). The all free range just fine. I haven't put them all together yet, I am waiting until we get back from a vacation so I can open up the door early to let them out and keep doing this until they all get used to being in the one coop. I plan on sneaking the new ones in at night. I read in other posts that I can isolate the bully (or bullies) for a few days to rearrange the pecking order? Any thoughts?
I don't know that I would call this "bullying", upsetting as it can be to see. It's more of the bossiness that you see when the pecking order is being set. It's pretty common for the established flock members to "resource guard", in this case making it very clear that they get treats first. It sounds like at times, the littles are getting treats once the bigs are done, and this is considered proper and normal in chicken society.
Signs of bullying are things like charging another chicken from across the yard, chasing the victim relentlessly, herding them into a corner and trapping them, pecking and biting to the point of drawing blood.
Bossiness is more like taking a few steps toward the littles, bawking and flapping wings, running them away from food in order to eat first, strolling right through several littles as they're resting on the ground, and so forth. It looks like 12th-graders swaggering around 9th-graders when school starts back up again - "We're the bosses, and don't you forget it!"
This often fades when the younger ones become old enough to lay.
Thanks. I appreciate the response and keep my fingers crossed that nothing escalates when I get them all in the same coop.
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