How to integrate an only child

[AndyCap]

Hey All!

First post! i have thoroughly enjoyed browsing the forums and was hoping i could get some help. I have read the forums but my problem seems to be specific. I am a first time chicken owner.

We have an adopted hen(not sure about the breed) who is about 2-3 months old, she has been an only child for a month and has been free ranging. We decided to get 4 Pekin bantams hens to keep her company. We got the new bantams, but our hen is terrified of them, she will maintain a big distance between them and her and run back to us if any of them approach her. They are slightly smaller then her at this stage, and i know she will be bigger then them soon.

We bought a lovely coop for all our birds and were hoping our hen would teach the new girls how to forage around the garden. She doesnt want to go into the coop with the new girls.

i was really hoping she would enjoy the company to and teach the new girls. Is there anything i can do to make the change easier for her? i hope they can forage and sleep together eventually, i hoped she would become the leader of the flock.

Any thoughts or hints could really help me.

Thanks Andy

 

[dainerra]

Just let her get used to them. It sounds like she is younger than them, plus chickens are always afraid of something new. Add in the fact that they outnumber her and it's normal for her to be a bit apprehensive.

There may be some pecking and some squabbling, but let them work it out as long as there is no bloodshed. If she isn't used to this new coop, that could also mean that she doesn't consider it "home" yet. Keep putting her in at night and they will all get along. Don't be surprised if it takes a long time for them to be a "flock" My birds were all raised together, but at free-range time the oldest EE goes one way, the RIR goes her own way, the 2 barred rocks go another way, and the 3 younger EEs go yet another. They only have a few favorite dust baths where you will see them all hanging out together. Otherwise, it's birds of a feather (and age!)

 

[AndyCap]

Thanks dainerra,

i have spent as much time as i can with them all, and our only child ate with the other girls for the first time today. She is still nervous about all four together but i am seeing this as huge progress on her part. Our 4 new bantams are afraid of being out the coop by themselves at the moment, i dont think they had free ground where they were, the run/jump/fly between where ever we are and the coop. They are happily eating grass and clover, then running/jumping/flying back to the safety of the coop

one of the little pekins is fascinated by our only child I think it may be due to the fact that they are the same colour. But her running from the coop to be with her is scaring our only child a bit.

Overall i think it is great progress though. They tried to follow her a bit further today, but that scared her a bit.

Thanks so much for the help, i have decided to build an extension to the coop to give our original girl a bit more room around the new girls, she is still reluctant to sleep in the coop, preferring her box that she had when she was still a chick. i will move her box into the new extension, and eventually out altogether so she can sleep next to them, maybe with a small divider so she can be around the new girls without them being able to chase her.

Do my plans sound okay?

Thanks again for the help. Andy

 

[AndyCap]

Just thought i would post an update. in the ast two weeks, our only child has started "flocking" with our bantams

She is still terrified of the black cochins, but is firmly putting the white cochins in place.

It is funny how even though the little black bantams are one third her size, they are still the little bosses around the yard