Introducing 3 pullets to a single game fowl hen

[ImNewToThis]

This may be unnecessary, but I feel the need to give some background on the issues I'm having.

Just before Christmas of 2024, we had a lone hen fly into our backyard. I asked all our immediate neighbors if she belonged to them, and no one seemed to have any idea where she came from. We occasionally hear chickens crying far off in the distance in the morning, but no one seemed to be looking for her. With absolutely no prior knowledge or experience owning chickens, we decided to keep her. I've dug into this website and many others trying to learn everything I can about chickens to make this work out. I'm 99% sure she is some sort of gamefowl or gamefowl cross, and she's definitely a hen seeing as we've gotten quite a few eggs from her. She goes broody frequently and is quite the grouchy girl, but we've come to adore her. From what I read, keeping a lone hen is a bad idea and she wakes up every morning calling loudly for what I can only assume used to be her flock. Note, not rooster crowing... just really really loud squawking/crying... which I've read is also common with gamefowl.

It wasn't until February this year we managed to get some chicks at our local feed store. With all the craziness surrounding people trying to get chicks this year, it was amazing we managed to get anything. Our area allows us to have 4 hens so we ended up with 1 silver Laced wyandotte, 1 golden laced wyandotte, and 1 black sex link, all pullets (hopefully). As of today, they're just shy of 13 weeks old.

Introducing has not gone well at all. We have the little ladies separated from our grouchy hen, but that doesn't stop the drama. They've been next each other in separate areas for 4 weeks. At first our hen was squawking and kicking at the fence separating them, flaring her tail feathers, and dropping her wing down agressively at our poor little pullets seemed none the wiser to it all. Now days, the little ones sit butt up next to her through the fencing while she occasionally attempts to peck them, but her hyperfixating on them has calmed down. We've put them in the same area together a couple times and it always ends with her relentlessly chasing, cornering, and ripping beakfulls of feathers out of the poor babies while they just scream and try to get away. Space is not an issue, they have run of most of our backyard and we have lots of feeding and watering locations. She is just super agressive towards these little ones and I don't want any of them getting hurt or all their feathers ripped out. Is this something I just need to wait out untill the pullets get old enough to stand up to her? Is this normal pecking order behavior? Is there something I should be doing differently other than just letting them see eachother through a fence? Should I get some pinless peepers for her? I'm really unsure of how to proceed or if intergrating them together fully is even possible. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

What you’re doing right now sounds good. Continue doing that until the chicks get a bit bigger (17 or so weeks). By then, they should be able to fend for themselves against your big girl. Sometimes the adults will never fully care for the younger chicks, sometimes they become a cohesive flock. It takes a lot of time and a lot of screaming and flying feathers sometimes.

 

[Mrs. K]

Can you show more pictures of the entire yard, coop, run and how you have them separated?

Without seeing it, I am guessing. But I am thinking that most people will have put the chicks in the smaller area because they are smaller. This becomes the chicks territory-where they belong. The chicks know this and so does the older bird.

When you turn them out, they are chased and harassed, they know they are out of their territory and unsure.

What suggest is to put the old gal where you have the chicks, and move the chicks into the big area. Keep this arrangement for several days. This lets the chicks explore without being chased, and develop some territorial rights.

After three days- then let the old girl out into the largest area fairly close to dark. The urge to roost will be almost equal to the urge to fight. I would expect them all to go into the coop.

Do this a time where you can be down early the next day to see how it goes.

Mrs K

 

[ImNewToThis]

What you’re doing right now sounds good. Continue doing that until the chicks get a bit bigger (17 or so weeks). By then, they should be able to fend for themselves against your big girl. Sometimes the adults will never fully care for the younger chicks, sometimes they become a cohesive flock. It takes a lot of time and a lot of screaming and flying feathers sometimes.

Thank you for the response and reassurance. I figured some more time is what would most likely be needed, but I was unsure at what age they'd be able to stand up for themselves. They'll be 17 weeks soon enough and I'll give it another go.