Introducing new chickens

[jploria116]

So I have 6 hens (copper maran, RIR, blue Plymouth, 2 buff orpingtons and an Easter egger) about 18 weeks old that are already established in my coop. I have three new hens approxinately 10 weeks old (jersey splash, olive egger and grey maran).

Currently the 3 new ones are inside a large dog crate inside my run to get them acquainted. They’ve been in there for a couple weeks now. Today i tried letting them all out into the yard to free range. The three new ones tried to mingle with the other six but eventually the buff orpingtons and the RIR started pecking at them. Eventually the three new ones hung out in a corner by themselves. Any tips or tricks for introducing the new ones. Should I just keep letting them free rang together for a bit?

Thanks

 

[cmobley]

Just throw em in the pen they’ll fight it out and everything will be fine. The more you separate them the more they’re gonna fight. I never do that look but no touch stuff it just causes issues. Chickens are always gonna fight and test each other that’s what animals do.

 

[Rose the Legbar]

Honestly what you described was normal behavior. They are testing their boundaries and getting to know each other. Definitely let them free range together more, it gets them more used to eachother. It’s also not a huge age and size gap of the chicks so I think it will be a bit more easy of an integration.

 

[jploria116]

Just throw em in the pen they’ll fight it out and everything will be fine. The more you separate them the more they’re gonna fight. I never do that look but no touch stuff it just causes issues. Chickens are always gonna fight and test each other that’s what animals do.

I was just concerned being there is still a noticeable size difference.

 

[amity80]

There is going to be some pecking to establish the hierarchy. Do they all go into the coop at night? If the three new ones aren't, you can wait until they are roosted for the night and then place the new girls in the coop on the roost with the others. I've had success with integrating them while they are in their sleep stupor, they wake up all together. It is a technique I read and saw a lot of three years ago when I was integrating a flock for the first time. It worked for me.

 

[jploria116]

I can try that. I think I wanna try letting them mingle together a little more before that because once they’re in the coop together, it will be much harder to get them out. I don’t have a walk in coop.

 

[arazla]

My chickens had a huge size difference between 10 and 18 weeks. I'm new at this, but I've seen some horror stories posted on the FB backyard chickens where people just "threw them in." Seems like lots of space and free ranging might eventually stave off violence and create more comfort. I see you've had them there for 2 weeks so that does seem like a good stretch.