Intergrating Groups of Birds

[OliverFrid]

So my coop is currently made up of two - 1 year old Rhode Island Reds (dominate birds) and five 9 month old Bard Rocks. I have five 5 month old Golden Laced Wyendottes I want to take out of our brooder and get in the coop. I have put the brooder cage into our coop for a week now after a failed attempt to introduce the birds last weekend. I was hoping that after a week of the older birds being around the babies and seeing/smelling them, they wouldn't have to much of a problem being around them, I was wrong. When I took a single Wyendotte out of the cage and held it near the Bards they pushed up their heads and tried to strike out the baby with their beaks.

I need to know the best way to get the birds to be okay with one another so I don't lose anyone. I have owned chickens for about 3 years now and never had such a violent reaction from my flock before.... any tips, tricks, or sagely advice would be great.

 

[Mrs. K]

A single bird introduction is always tough. You need to overwhelm the establishd flock. As in they know these are new birds, but there is so many that they can't all peck one. A single bird gets all of the negative attention, and very often that is way too much.

An effective trick is to turn out the old girls to free range and lock them out, with the new girls locked in the run/coop setup. This allows them to explore safely. And most importantly find some hide outs and some escapes. Make sure there are some hideouts in the run, a pallet leaned against the wall, another pallet up on blocks. Some roosts in the corner. Any thing so that a less dominant bird can get out of sight. So many runs pictured on here are just a big open space, with no where to go or hide.

Set up multiple feeders, stomp around a bit, so that the young ones scatter a bit, and find places. I might do this two days, couping up the young ones how you are now, and then letting in the older birds at dark. You might have to set nest out of the set up for your layers for a day or so. Then on the third day, I would let out the old girls, and after a few minutes, let out the young girls to free range.

There may be some scuffles, but it should not be too bad.

Mrs K

 

[OliverFrid]

The younger birds have survived and no longer need a hiding place but they still are not part of the pecking order (I guess they will just need to get bigger). Having them free range seems to help a lot as well.