Help, Flock Beating Up New Member

[FloridaChick88]

Hi everyone,
I have a 12 week old English orpington that I am trying to integrate into my adult flock. Unfortunately she is being integrated alone because the othere 3 chicks that I was going to introduce with her got sick and died abut a month ago. To try and make things easier for her I put her in my "broody pen" which is right next the the big girl's run so that they could get used to the idea of seeing her around.

Long story short, one of my girls just hatched eggs so she has to be in the broody pen and I'm now trying to introduce the baby into the run. I have her in a dog crate (you can see the photo below with food and water, I'm sorry the crate is so small it's the only one I had) inside the coop. They pretty much ignored her inside the crate so I thought I would let her out to see how it went. Again they ignored her until she got too close to my dominant hen then all hell broke loose. My two most dominant girls went after her and my rooster came over to break things up which scared the baby even more. I ran in and grabbed the baby. Then I saw that they had bloodied her eyelid and taken a good bite out of her comb. The bleeding has stopped but I'm wondering am I doing this right???? I'm scared that when I do let her out for good and I'm not here they might kill her because she is so timid. She's a big girl so she isn't much smaller than my adult hens. How long shold I leave her in the crate to allow them to get used to her? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, this baby is very special to me.

 

[junebuggena]

Single chickens take time to integrate. The keys to a peaceful integration are lots of space (more than the usual minimums of 10 sq ft per bird) and time. It's best to allow the new bird to live in an adjacent setup next to the main flock for at least 2 weeks so that they can get used to each other without anybody feeling threatened. Ample space, multiple food and water stations and breaking up sightlines helps reduce territorial behaviors.

 

[FloridaChick88]

Single chickens take time to integrate. The keys to a peaceful integration are lots of space (more than the usual minimums of 10 sq ft per bird) and time. It's best to allow the new bird to live in an adjacent setup next to the main flock for at least 2 weeks so that they can get used to each other without anybody feeling threatened. Ample space, multiple food and water stations and breaking up sightlines helps reduce territorial behaviors.

Thank you. Seeing the pecking order be established is very difficult to watch, I hate seeing animals get "picked on" by other animals. She has been in the broody pen beside the main coop for 5 weeks prior to me putting her in the dog crate and my girls have plenty of space so I guess I just need to be patient. I guess I was just hoping that because they had been able to see her for over a month that maybe they wouldn't try to go after her....

 

[LittlePip21]

What I usually do is put all my girls in the coop, then take my most gentle girl and let them run with the new one. They will usually have a quick confrontation and then one will come out on top. Try and find a hen that your new girl can best to boost her confidence. Then I keep adding one hen at a time, working up to the more aggressive ones. If your worried about ganging up, you can just switch them out instead of adding more and more. I usually do this then once they are established I let the new girl be in with them supervised. Hope this was helpful!

 

[junebuggena]

Thank you. Seeing the pecking order be established is very difficult to watch, I hate seeing animals get "picked on" by other animals. She has been in the broody pen beside the main coop for 5 weeks prior to me putting her in the dog crate and my girls have plenty of space so I guess I just need to be patient. I guess I was just hoping that because they had been able to see her for over a month that maybe they wouldn't try to go after her....

Define "plenty of space". Coop/run dimensions and number of birds?

 

[FloridaChick88]

Define "plenty of space". Coop/run dimensions and number of birds?

My coop is 48 sq ft (6x8) and my run is 120 sq ft (10x12). I had a total of 7 birds in this area, 8 if you count my new girl....

 

[FloridaChick88]

What I usually do is put all my girls in the coop, then take my most gentle girl and let them run with the new one. They will usually have a quick confrontation and then one will come out on top. Try and find a hen that your new girl can best to boost her confidence. Then I keep adding one hen at a time, working up to the more aggressive ones. If your worried about ganging up, you can just switch them out instead of adding more and more. I usually do this then once they are established I let the new girl be in with them supervised. Hope this was helpful!

This is a very good idea, thank you.

 

[junebuggena]

My coop is 48 sq ft (6x8) and my run is 120 sq ft (10x12). I had a total of 7 birds in this area, 8 if you count my new girl....

It's plenty big for an ESTABLISHED flock. Integrating requires about twice the average amount needed. That means your run is short by about 5 sq ft. You'll need to pay special attention to breaking up sightlines so that the new girl can get out of the visual range of the dominant birds.

 

[FloridaChick88]

It's plenty big for an ESTABLISHED flock. Integrating requires about twice the average amount needed. That means your run is short by about 5 sq ft. You'll need to pay special attention to breaking up sightlines so that the new girl can get out of the visual range of the dominant birds.

Thank you! I'll be sure to do that. I really appreciate all of the help.