Hen Integration Issues

[Kinney's Urban Ranch]

We have two year old Australorps that we bought in the Fall and are attempting to introduce two new girls, a buff orpington pullet and an 8 month old barred rock. We kept the new girls in quarantine for a week and then put them in with our australorps. They slept through the night with no issues, but when we checked on them in the morning, the australorps were clearly pecking and harassing the pullet. Should we keep her separate from all of them until she is a little bigger, or should they just work it out?

 

[eric777]

We just went through this too.....check out my thread as it has great suggestions from the community and it seemed to help our hens:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=440770

We are still seeing some integration issues (one chicken chasing one of the new hens around), but after a few days, the new hens have found places in the coop where they can be more relaxed, and are being harassed less and less.

Bottom line - keeping the chickens separated, but able to see each other is really key. We thought this would take just a few days, but it was closer to 2 weeks for everyone to get comfortable with each other. Allowing the chickens to take their time getting used to each other is the best approach.

Good luck!