Intergrading hens. PLEASE ANY ADVICE WOULD HELP!

[babychickfarmer]

Alright 11 hens, 3 - 2 year olds and 8 - 1 year olds. We were offered aniother aruacana hen today and I want it despertly (thats kinda my thing, taking hens that are unwanted and adopting them.) I searched and couldn't find an answer on how would I intergrate her to where the others won't beat the S*** outta her? The three older ones already have issues with pickin on the 8 others. Any advice or ideas on what to do. Thank YOU!!

 

[Sherry]

put her in a cage in with the other girls. They can see each other but not get to each other.

Of course, I think you are supposed to quarantine for awhile to make sure no new illness is introduced to the other girls.

 

[CUDA]

Absolutely quarantine any new birds you bring on to your yard for at least one week, and keep them far away from your other birds. Watch them for any signs of sickness in this time. After that, put them in your coop in the evening, when they are on the roost, and not active. Standard breeds will still set a new pecking order, but they will not typically hurt each other in the process, and you will see less fighting doing it this way, than just putting them together during the daytime. Good luck!

 

[ChicknThief]

Whenever we integrate a new bird, we wait until after dark and put the new one in the dark coop. In the morning the are just like sisters! Don't know if that works for all birds, but it works for us...

 

[babychickfarmer]

those are great ideas, but I don't live where my girls are at and we don't have enough space for me to keep her seperated for a long time. I know where the kind of enviorment she is in is good and the other chickens she has been around aren't sick. All she did there was Free Range all day. the whole cage thing I can probably do, but do I keep her in the run or coop? How big should the cage be cause I have one about the size of a small dog kennel? should I just put up some sort of blocked corner of the run to keep her in?

 

[greenmulberry]

When I was introducing hens, I took some scrap chicken wire and dived my run, and put a plastic dog carrier in the run for them to get out of the weather.

I left them like that for several days, then peeled back the chicken wire on each end so there was still a divided area for them to run away too, but they couldn't get trapped.

When I first let them mingle, I sat in the run with a long stick that I used to shove away any aggressors. Boy, I was surprised how quickly they learned! I would say "Hey! Knock it off!!" and shove the attacker away with the stick, and very soon they would back off as soon as I scolded.

It was sad to see the new girls get picked on at first, but soon they were all friends.

Really, you just have to assess your space, and consider what your best options are for introducing them.

 

[silkiechicken]

And when you put her in. DO NOT try to "save her" because that will make it worse when the hens learn they can beat her up when you are not around.

 

[slyfoxpeeps]

Silkiechicken I hear ya!! Because of trying to protect the new ones, I now put them in at night and just glance the next day because they DO have to work it out.