Finally, peace or "somewhat".

[Kentucky]

Now I know why some folks give up and have more than one chicken pen. When I was a kid on the farm all the chicks were bought at the same time and were the same breed, if later a hen hatched a small brood she was the one who protected them from the rest of the flock.

When the wife decided she wanted chickens she first got 2-Ameraucanas, 1-Australorp, 2-Wyandottes chicks all the same age and a Cochin bantam rooster that was two weeks older. Needless to say, he was a nasty little devil toward all the others until they got bigger, then "pay backs are hell".

About two months later she got two more Ameraucana chicks. What a saga, only now after what seems like an eternity(actually 6 weeks) they no longer need a "safe zone area" to escape the wrath of the older chickens. They are now a team even though they are still the underdogs. Again, "pay backs are gonna be hell" since one of them is most likely a ROOSTER.

Of this breed mix the Wyandottes seem to be the meanest toward baby chicks, closely followed by the Australorp, however the Cochin rooster loves to pick on anyone smaller than him. The older Ameraucanas are to most docile and nicest birds of the little group.

Kentucky

 

[Chirpy]

At least for me, having different age chicks and chickens has been the hardest part of owning them. Ok - it's been the only hard part of owning them. But, it's really just a great excuse to "have to build" another coop because I can't put the little ones in with the big ones.

 

[Kentucky]

Chirpy:

I started the indoctrination process by placing the closed chick cage in the pen during the daytime for brief periods, then graduated to putting the closed cage in the chicken coup at night.

Later on, I set the cage door for only small chicken access during both daytime and night.

When they finally graduated to roosting on top of the cage in a pie pan, I replaced the cage with a 5gal bucket and their pie pan on top.

As of two nights ago, they began roosting on the regular roost with the other chickens, but on the lowest rung. At present I have not removed their bucket/pie pan combo yet, in case of a chicken temper flare.

Kentucky

 

[cjeanean]

Mine have been mean to all the newcomers, so the new ones usually hide in a corner of the coop or stay in just one corner of the run and take off as soon as an older bird shows up. As long as the newcomers get food and water (which was always the case, when we let the chickens out in the morning all the 'older' ones run outside, leaving the new ones alone in the coop with the food and water. The first new ones I intro'd took about a week to get used to everything, but the last pair only took a few days. Good luck, just make sure the new ones have access to food and water.

 

[Kentucky]

cjeanean:

Oh my yes, throughout the cage phase the younger ones always had their own private waterer and feeder. Along with their own "gruel" bowl (wife's special mixture).

During the whole process no all out attacks were ever noted or allowed.

At present I think one could say that 99% of the time there is total peace and harmony among all members of the mini flock.

Kentucky

 

[molly]

I have 5 bantams Ive had them since may three of them have turned out to be roosters I have just gotten two more hens the roosters are being mean to the new ones is there something i can do? I really dont want to have to build another coop.

 

[Kentucky]

Molly:

Agreed, I too did not want to have to build another coup each time the wife added to her flock. Please understand, I am by no means a chicken raising expert, I just tried to approach the problem at least a little smarter than the bird.

The planned logic was to use a control cage for the new chicks progressively phased step-by-step into pen and into coup, followed by limited size in/out access, then finally total cage removal, that was the approach that I chose.

As stated earlier it was a very slow process lasting approximately 2 months, at times I actually wondered if I was gaining. At one point we even considered getting rid of the (2)two Wyandotte troublemakers.

Fortunately, with time things began to improve now they all at least tolerate each other, which should improve further as they all become adults. Although, I expect there will always be the occasional brief duration temper flare.

Good Luck,

Kentucky