Hens from two different flocks aren't getting along

[krisirose]

First Things first I had 4 chickens i bought from a farm that I'm not happy about. They didn't tell me that the chickens had the tips if their beaks removed, and once i got them home and in the coop they didn't act like normal chickens. They would just stare at worms as they crawled away :/. Unfortunately, a fox got 3 of the 4, and so we were left with just the one. (Her name is Little Red)

Fast forward to now (it has only been a week). We bought 3 new hens from a different farm, and they are happy healthy chickens. If i throw scratch out to them the new three go crazy, they love worms, they cluck throughout the day.

Now Little Red is slowly coming out of her shell (pun intended) and the three won't let her go at the scratch. I don't know if it will pass, and I'm worried because i want them all to be happy. I also want to avoid them picking on her since she doesn't have a compete beak to defend herself with (who does that anyways? It seems so awful.)

Any suggestions on what i should do?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Integration takes time with chickens. When I added a pullet, it took a good 3-4 weeks before she was "generally accepted" and maybe another month before she began to really integrate and be an actual MEMBER of the flock. I put up a "blind" in my yard so that I could put treats out on both sides and my new girl could be out of eyesight of the others occasionally.

 

[Farm Sweet Farm]

We had the same problem. The new hens weren't getting along with my old ones. My hen was too shy to stand up to the mean hens, so they kept picking on her. One of the reasons was that the new hens were a lot older that my hen, so we eventually had to give them away because they still weren't getting along. We go some younger than my hen and they get along just fine. But if you give them enough time, they may start to accept your hens into their flock.

 

[cmobley]

Glad i found this conversation i had the exact same problem with a fox and getting new older hens to put woth younger hen. Its been a week the older 2 beat up the younger still but im gonna let em sort it out see what happens. The only other problem im having is the 2 older hens are wyandottes thats supposed to be laying but after a week ive gotten 2 eggs and one of those they broke in the nest box and ate. Im feeding high protien feed lots of water plenty of oyster shell for layers. Maybe the stress of the younger hen in the pen is stopping regular laying?

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Having a group/flock and one new addition (or one original bird) is a lot harder than introducing multiple new birds at once.