Hi!

[Veedsy]

Hi everyone, I live in Northern Canada and gave a small hobby farm. Until Friday I had 8 Brown Leghorn hens just over a year old. 5 were taken by a hawk while they were free ranging

I'm looking to buy 3 Americauna pullets-does anyone know if the older hens would torment the pullets in the coop? Also, I will be supervising free range time more closely. Thanks!

 

[drumstick diva]

It would be better to keep your flock in an enclosed covered run till the hawks move on elsewhere. Hawks will blatantly swoop down and take a bird near your feet before you can react. They had meals off your flock and know you have more left. If they have offspring to feed, they will be even more insistent. Baby birds demand to be fed often. Parent birds will take the path of least resistance.

Generally putting new birds with an established flock will cause trauma & shake up the pecking order which may need to be reshuffled. The best way to integrate is the " look but, don't touch" method. It's kinder, gentler, and usually no blood shed. You can find this on BYC.

 

[Veedsy]

It would be better to keep your flock in an enclosed covered run  till the hawks move on elsewhere.  Hawks will blatantly  swoop down and take  a bird near your feet before you can react.  They had meals off your flock  and know you have more left.  If they have offspring to feed, they will be even more insistent.  Baby birds demand to be fed often.  Parent birds will take the path of least resistance.

Generally putting new birds with  an established flock will cause trauma & shake up the pecking order which may need to be reshuffled.  The best way to integrate is the " look but, don't touch" method. It's kinder, gentler, and usually no blood shed.  You can find this on BYC.

Thank you so much! Yes, you're probably right about keeping them indoors. I still can't be sure what the predator was-all that was left was piles of feathers-no sign of the birds.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

drumstick diva gave you great advice!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Here's the link for the approach suggested by D/Diva and a couple of others:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1126547/topic-of-the-week-integrating-chicks-into-an-adult-flock

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224

Best wishes
CT