Well three out of four of our 12 week old chickens turned out to be cockerels. We aren't allowed roosters in our town so we had to get rid of them. We added four new pullets on Saturday, a Buff Orpington, Ameraucana, Black Star, and Golden-laced Wyandotte. Two are 9 weeks and two are 8 weeks. I was hoping since they are fairly close in age to the older 12 week old they would all get along but the older girl is pecking the younger ones a lot. She also doesn't want to come out of her coop all day and seems really sad making crying noises. Is there anything I can do to help them along? She is bigger, but not that much bigger so I don't think she will hurt them seriously. Here are a couple pics to compare. Here's the 8 & 9 week olds. Here's the barred rock 12 week old on the left.
If you just introduced them the bigger ones will peck at the smaller ones. The pecking will subside after 5-7 days.
Barred rocks are notorious for this. They are great chickens but, I had two of them and whenever I had to introduce new ones they were the meanest to the new girls. You may want to put her in time out for a few days. If you have access to a big enough dog crate, put her in the crate, inside the run where she can see the newcomers but not get to them. Of course, make sure she has access to water and food at all times. This should help, but still be prepared for some pecking even after she is let back out, she is letting them know she is head hen, but the Barred Rocks I have had have always been overly aggressive to newcomers. Good Luck! Edit: just noticed you said she was making crying noises, she may be a little distressed because her friends were taken away. Give it time though and everything will be just fine
I kept my chicks separated in the same coop for 3 weeks separated by a wire dog kennel. I supervised their together time and did not allow bullying/biting. Once integrated, my oldest EE was still bullying the d'uccle, so in the kennel she went...alone for one week. That stopped the bullying and the EE is still top hen. After 3 weeks of seeing each other, the process paid off. They've been successfully integrated for 3 weeks now. .
