How to introduce new chicks to the flock/reduce bullying

[Peckyweck01]

I have a 4 month old silkie bantam pullet and 4 month old silkie/frizzle cross i want to put in with my rooster peck and his 2 polish hens. I cut off a part of their outside run and kept them in there for about 2 weeks. I let them out with the others and the 2 hens immediately went after them and wouldnt stop. The pullets werent allowed to come outside of the nest boxes unless i was there holding them. I want them to live together when they are older but i dont know what to do. I have put a small animal carrier for them to hide in but that doenst seem to do anything. I want them to be able to eat/drink when they need to. I have tried making 2 different feed/water stations but the hens are always on top of them.

 

[azygous]

Go vertical. I sometimes use an old camping table in the run to place food and water for the young pullets. If a feeding station is remote from the ones used by the regular flock members, and you pick up your pullets and show it to them, they should learn that it's where they can eat and drink in peace.

You can install shelves to serve the same purpose.

 

[Peckyweck01]

Go vertical. I sometimes use an old camping table in the run to place food and water for the young pullets. If a feeding station is remote from the ones used by the regular flock members, and you pick up your pullets and show it to them, they should learn that it's where they can eat and drink in peace.

You can install shelves to serve the same purpose.

ok thank you!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Overall clutter will help: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/ . How much "stuff" do you have in the run? The reason putting food up on a small table helps is because it makes it less visible to the other birds, so you can also use barriers at ground level to achieve some of the same effect, as well as provide hiding spaces for the pecked on birds.

 

[Flockincrazy]

I have recently gone with the dominance method of teaching after the visual if they still attack i let the new ones loose if the older ones attack i hold them in dominance by their back with chest to the ground it works for me i normally don't have that issue but every once in a while my older hens decide to get sassy