introducing 4 bantam cochins to the heavyweight ladies

[Sandrachx]

i was given 4 cute little bantam cochins and kept them in a cage in the garage for 1 week so i could find a home for my large randy rooster. today we put the same cage in the much larger run so the girls could get acquainted with the 8 heavyweight ladies i already have. everyone was miffed - the littles started pecking each other and squabbeling, the big ones squawked all day long, rarely laying an egg. i finally let the big girls out to roam the yard and let the littles out to roam the coop. if i do this for the next 2-3 days, do you think they will have gotten used to each other's presence enough to get rid of the cage? should i put the cage in the coop as opposed to leaving it in the run at night to help establish their residency? anyone else ever dealt with this?

 

[rebecca10782]

Ive dealt with this problem with cats. They will never become friends if forced, so we put the new one in the bathroom so the others could get used to the new smell. Then after a few days, or whenever the old cats stopped hissing we opened the door so if they wanted they could say hello they were able. I think the most important thing is to give them a lot of space and they will get used to eachother eventually. But if any are unfixed males with other males they never stop fighting. They don't want to "share" their women

I dont know about chickens though, I would assume it is the same.

 

[bigmike&nan]

Sorry for the double post... Oops...

Michael

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
We had exactly the same problem here - we just got two adorable Cochin Bantams (white) from BuzzardChik (a great lady to deal with... hope you liked my BIALYS...). The first night everyone was together and the big girls and Anthony (the Cochin Roo) got into it a little - Anthony can handle twice his weight in Wyandotte... LOL BUT the bummer was the big girls picked on Carmella, the female Cochin...

It vexed me so that such a cute Cochin would be picked on. I got our kitchen sprayer (I use it to spray the inside of the oven when I bake bread) and gave the Wyandottes a couple shots in the ass with a stream of water. They don't like being picked on either. FUNNY THING... It's not over yet, but we let them out to free range on Sunday for about 4 hours and they wore themselves out. Today they've already been out an hour and they'll be out a couple hours this afternoon and tonight. The more room they have the less chance for any foolishness I figure...

When I moved from California to New Jersey to be with My Bride Nan I brought my 10 year old cat, Kitty. We had the same nonsense with everyone getting along at first. And like Carmella the Cochin, Kitty was kind of docile and non-confrontational. It took a while for it to get all sorted out but again the kitchen sprayer played a great part in putting everyone in their respective places...

Whether it's cats or chickens, these things take time. We make a point of giving Carmella a lot of physical affection - they all get TREATS and hopefeully in a few days they'll be sharing secret spots in the yard for good eats...

Michael

My bride Nan and Carmella sharing a quiet moment.

 

[rebecca10782]

I forgot to add one thing, be careful not to ignore the old chickens, animals get very jealous. Give the old one EXTRA attention (when they are behaving of course)

 

[Sandrachx]

well, this a.m. has not been without it's little drama. little by way of the bantam cochins. i left them outside the coop in their cage overnight with carpet runners covering the cage to keep the night air off them. everything was quiet - sweet peace! then i moved the cage so that the door, when opened, created a smaller run in between the run fencing wall and the coop building. i thought that was a pretty clever thing to do! little miss adorable (colored cochin), however, had other things in mind, so she flew over the safety guard and started intereacting with the big girls. i had to use my trusty dressage horse whip to gently shoosh the big girls away and give little miss adorable some room to escape. nothing like having an additional 4' on my arm for chicken reaching... so i've re-adjusted the cage door and they now have an "escape hatch" to scoot through that the big girls can't get through if they feel threatened. i do like the idea of the squirt bottle though. thanks!