Integrating/Re-integrating New & Recently Out-of-Quarantine Hens

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

Hello! We have four 2 1/2 year old hens who all arrived together when we first became chicken keepers. One of them is currently in quarantine within the run, but is ready to join her flock mates. One was in quarantine, but has already rejoined the other two a couple weeks ago. She is clearly being picked on - her comb looks pecked and she keeps to the nesting box most of the day. We did supervise her re-integration each night when we first let her out of quarantine, breaking up attacks with a spray bottle of water. We thought things had settled down, so we stopped supervising, but clearly the other chickens are jerks when we're not around. We also have two young pullets, about 35 weeks old, who have been in a separate coop and run about 6 feet away from the others since April.

What we would like to do is (after a thorough coop and run cleaning) put them all in together. My logic is that the two young ones know each other, two of the older ones are used to being together, and the quarantined one and recently out of quarantine one may have an easier time re-integrating if they're not the only ones perceived as "different". I don't know how chickens think though, and I don't want to do anything dangerous for any of them. I have read that free-ranging is the best way to let them get to know each other, but we have foxes, coyotes, skunks, hawks, owls, badgers, and maybe racoons (why do we live here???), so that's not an option. They have a 200 sq. ft. run, and the coop is 80 sq. ft. Both have ample places to climb up and to hide.

Another option is to put them all into a new chicken tractor we are building, but we thought that might be too much stress at one time.

Would love some advice from those who have more experience with this sort of thing!

 

[Debbie292d]

We also have two young pullets, about 35 weeks old,

Hi! I presume that's a typo?

Do you know who the bully is going to be before you put them all together? If so, maybe take him/her out of there for a week or two and see how the rest all fair together? Here, it's two hens I'd be penning up. They are relentlessly picking on new/younger chickens being around them. This resets their pecking order too so it takes them down a peg when they are returned.

The other thing you can do that helps is put some clutter in your run so if there's squabbles, the "victim(s)" can take refuge behind a log, wooden box, pallets, overturned chair, etc.

I would also have more than one waterer and feeder a distance apart so that everyone gets a chance to get to them without being scared off.

 

[OurFineFeatheredFriends]

Thank you for your insights, Debbie292d. I suppose 35 weeks isn't that young anymore in bird terms!

I know one of the older hens is a bully, for sure, and one other that might be when we're not watching. I had wondered about isolating at least the worst one, so we'll give that a try.

We have some pallets and things that we can add to their run to clutter it up a bit more. We have two feeding stations and two watering stations, but another wouldn't hurt.

I hope your birds learn to peacefully coexist soon too!

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you for your insights, Debbie292d. I suppose 35 weeks isn't that young anymore in bird terms!

I know one of the older hens is a bully, for sure, and one other that might be when we're not watching. I had wondered about isolating at least the worst one, so we'll give that a try.

We have some pallets and things that we can add to their run to clutter it up a bit more. We have two feeding stations and two watering stations, but another wouldn't hurt.

I hope your birds learn to peacefully coexist soon too!

I got the impression that there are some young pullets who might be at risk of integrating.

Some of us change from calling them pullets to hens when they lay their first egg, myself included, as these are silkies and rarely lay an egg until they are around 8 months old. But officially, they aren't a hen until they are 1 year old.

I hope this works out for you! It sounds like you've got a handle on it! Good luck!