Flock integration for a single pullet

[RoxanneMaureen]

Hi everyone! I have 3 hens and a rooster who are 5 years old. I got 3 chicks about 3 months ago. They were doing great but I lost 2 of the new girls a couple weeks ago to a predator, so now I'll be trying to integrate 1 lone new girl, Amelia, into my flock. From what I've read, that's not ideal since they will focus on her instead of spreading the pecking around among multiple new girls.

I'm keeping them separate at night (older ones in the coop and new girl in the fully enclosed run) and have their day-time run partitioned so Amelia has her own space and is safe during the day while I'm at work. It's a hoop house so the older ones are at one end and Amelia is at the other end. They can see each other but not mix. I only have them mix when they can free range and I'm home with them.

While free ranging, the 3 older hens are sometimes ganging up on Amelia, and they also will go after her one at a time sometimes. They're pulling feathers and chasing her, but no blood has been drawn and she's been able to run away. It's not constant--maybe 3 times a day. But I would be afraid to put them into an enclosed space together.

Any advice for how to make it work? She's a Rhode Island Red, and the older girls are Barred Plymouth Rock. Amelia is about 2/3 grown, so she's still smaller than the others and on different food, so I'll be keeping her separate until she can switch to egg layer feed and is closer to their size. But I would really like to have her sleep in the coop with the others eventually, when she's older. How do I make sure she's not hurt by them? TIA for any advice!

 

[Livia Ammon]

Putting her in with them at night could help them get used to her smell and her looks. Also, if you take them out of the coop and put them somewhere else temporarily, and put her in the coop, then they will be less territorial when they come back.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Also she shouldn't be on a layer feed until she actually starts laying. Have you considered putting your older girls on an all-flock formula and providing calcium in the form of oyster shell in a separate vessel in the coop? The rooster should not be eating a layer formula either. He will ignore the oyster shell while the laying hens will help themselves.

I recently read of a kind of reverse integration you might try. Take one of the girls from your existing flock and put her in with your new girl. Don't take the top or bottom hen, take one from the middle. When they seem to be getting along well, take another hen and put her in with those two. Again, not a top or bottom hen. Be sure they are in an adjacent pen so they can all see each other but not touch. Spread some scratch along both sides of the fence line so they are all eating "together." Continue until all the birds are in the same pen and bingo, they are all one flock.