Hi everyone....I have a problem here i hoped someone could offer some advice on....my wife and i have four production red hens that we've had for about 5-6 weeks. They've been in a chicken tractor up until now. We decided we wanted a few more hens so we built a new stationary coop with a 20' x 35' sized run (we live in town so can't let them free range). We finished it last Saturday, and turned them into it. A little while later we bought two young Black Australorp's, not quite laying yet, and when we introduced them in to the new coop, the red hens pick on them and chase them around. They won't let them into the coop at night to roost. The black's huddled in a corner of the run last night, and we felt sorry for them, so i put a nice big box full of straw and they climbed right in. Winter will be here soon though....is there anything i can do to help these hens accept the new ones? Or will it just take time? We hate the discord in our little flock!!!!
They are just trying to established their "Pecking Order", another words figure out and show who's boss. Put them back in the coop and once they kind of show the new hens who's boss they'll get along just fine.
Have a similar problem annually in winter quarters with game hens when introducing pullets where conflicts can cause more harm than simply being excluded from roost. Sometimes hens will attack newcomer, even though latter gives clears signs of submission. Aggression directed at novelty seems to override social graces of an established social hiarchy where coop is not large enough to get away from attacker. Resolved by placing a small pen inside larger coop with general population. Then introduced pullets into small pen. Small pen must be large enough so pullets are not close enough to wire that hens on outside will attempt to flog / buckle through mesh. I like to place small pen in corner of inclosure enabling pullets a direction to go to so they can get away from aggressive hens. Pullets can give repeated submission signals and novelty can wear off. Make take several days for pullets to be accepted enough for release. Make certain to observe birds so they do not fight through mesh of small pen or that more time is not needed for acclimation prior to release.
Go in after dark (I always go at 10pm) when the hens are asleep & place the new hens inside the coop on the perch. The older hens will not make a fuss & when they wake up in the morning they don't know the new hens have been added. They can't count! I've used this technique several times & it has always worked.
