Integrating flocks-- so stressful!!

[Ohaus82]

Mostly fishing for reassurance here, sorry, cant help myself!

I have a flock of 5 6 week old Americaunas. Two got chomped by a hawk about 2 weeks ago, but survived the attack. I have been nursing them separately in a brooder until last night. They were getting way too rowdy for the brooder and they were looking healthy, so I snuck them in the coop last night. Everyone went to sleep and all was well. Well, today there has been lots of ruckus in there. No blood, but one of the injured ones has been really asserting her authority. She is biting, flying at the other girls and vehemently protecting her other injured sister. I know Im not supposed to intervene unless there is blood, but all I want to do is sit down there and supervise them all day long!! Im so worried someone will get hurt!

The girls were attacked by the hawk in their run, so I am not letting them out of the coop until the run is reinforced (hopefully this week).

Not much else I can do, right?

 

[hkwdesign]

I'm just starting up with chicks too, and my Araucana's are the same age as your - they were attacked in the run - oh no!
Did it have a roof?

We are just building the coop & pen, sorry I can't help with your question, but I'd love to know more - we just used the 1" poultry wire for everything - I'd be so upset if anything happened to our girls!

Best of luck - I guess this will bump your ? up at least!

 

[Ohaus82]

We had a super aggresive red tail. It was a makeshift run, but it had a roof and was entirely 1" chicken wire. The hawk walked right up and grabbed two chicks right through the holes in the wire. The wire was probably looser than it should have been, and my chicks were a bit naive, but I am using 1/4" hardware cloth for the final run, just to avoid this happening again. Im in a smallish city, so the hawks are pretty bold here.
On the other hand, my brother is in Oakland, CA, and my dad is in rural WI on a farm, and both let their chickens free range with no hawk problems.
Oh, and my make shift run was only about 16 sq feet, so maybe if it is bigger, they will be less likely to get attacked. Also, Im going to try mylar strips and a fake owl.
Just make sure you keep them in the coop at night. From what I read, raccoons have no problem with the 1" chicken wire.