Integrating a new chicken

[OperationHatch]

same thing with eggs.. once they taste an egg they go cannibalistic on those too

 

[Smoochie]

When I see blood .. If it is a minor wound I watch to see who is being mean and then put the injured one in a crate and the mean one in a crate. Only once the injured one has healed I put her back in the coop for a few days and then the meany. I'm a sucker for discipline and if the meany draws blood again she goes...

 

[dowgirl71]

Thank you so much for the ideas! That answers my question about the "drawing blood," too. Her injury has scabbed over well, today and I don't think it will take much to heal. Tomorrow, I'm going to try taking out my original aggressive one, Gossie and put Burnadette in with my other two girls, Gertie and Mya. Wish me luck-I'll keep you posted!

 

[Smoochie]

Good luck! Flock dynamics is tricky. I can see why people do all in and then all out. I always keep my old nice hens as I find they are good at teaching the younger chickens the rules.

 

[fifenashia]

I have successfully integrated 2 flocks so far and I have to say it is THE most stressful part of raising chickens! A few things that we have learned along the way would be

1. give them time to get used to each other, keeping her in a pen next door is a great way to allow them to see each other safely.
2. putting them all in the coop together at night seems to go better. It's like they wake up the next morning and are like "oh hello you chicken who was probably here forever and I just never noticed".
3. Strong personalities make integrating difficult, pulling them out and taking them down a peg so to speak (like putting her in the cage separate from the others) can make the process easier.
4. Integrating multiple birds is easier then just one, there is safety in numbers.

Hope some of this helps!!! Let us know how it goes!

 

[dowgirl71]

Thanks again for the suggestions! Today, I tried taking out my original boss, Gossie and putting the new chicken, Burnadette in with my other two easy-going girls, Gertie and Mya. It seemed to go well for a couple hours. Gertie and Mya put up no challenge to her, but it got to the point of Burnadette just going after them just because she could. So, I ended up putting everyone back where they were. Burnadette is alone tonight in the chicken tractor and the other three are in the coop. It almost seems like she is just a mean one, but she is the only one I have that is giving me an egg a day. Burnadette came from the country where she could free-range and now, she is in the city in a tractor. Maybe I need to find her a new home back out in the country? But it is really cool getting a fresh egg every day!

 

[ChickenMama78]

I basically just posted this same thred in another forum....we just got 2 new pullets today, and I am going to try and integrate them tomorrow with my 3 girls that are 7 months...I was hoping that things would go smoothly, but now I am getting worried...hope it all works out for you!

 

[OperationHatch]

she might just need time?

 

[dowgirl71]

I hope your experience goes better than mine! I plan to try again, tomorrow, but I just didn't want to leave my girls in the coop with the mean one. I could picture her cornering them and they would have no where to run. The people who gave her to us lost her for a couple weeks and thought that something had gotten her. After they gave away their remaining two chickens, this one came back. She had been on the run, in the "wild" for two weeks. That's part of the reason why I mentioned that maybe the city life isn't for her. What kind of chickens do you have? And are your 7 month olds laying, yet?

 

[momma of a chicken lover]

Did she integrate with your flock? Just checking back to see...