introducing new hens?

[carol-ann]

i am brand new to having hens. i started off in march with 5 hybrids - 2 blue, 2 brown and 1 black. sadly i lost one of my blue hens about 6 weeks ago. the remaining hens are about 8 months old just now.

i went away for holiday, and took the hens to the farm where i got them from for a weeks boarding. i asked the farmer if he could introduce 2 new hens to my flock. he did so, and gave me another blue hen and a black one (they are both lovely looking birds!) they are about 4 or 5 months old at the moment.

there were no problems that i know of during the weeks boarding.

i brought them home yesterday, and there does seem to be issues now. my old 4 seem to constantly harass the other 2. they can be sitting in a corner quietly minding their own buisness when one or other of the older ones will chase them. this seems to constantly happen. its one of the older birds in particular - the black one who is the youngest of the 4, but in truth the other 3 have a go when it takes their fancy!

its not viscious, its best described as harrassing and chasing. when they peck it doesnt seem to land on the birds but just in their direction.

i put out some treats this morning, and the new girls were left with the scraps - and even then it was 'in secret'!

i was relieved to see that the new girls were eating the pellets and drinking water.


last night after they had gone to bed, i had a look in the coop and all 6 of them were snuggled up together.


so, am wondering if this behaviour will settle down?
any suggestions?

i do not have enough room to seperate them, so if things arent going to work out, i will have to think of re homing the new birds, but not something i really want to do, because they are lovely looking birds


carol

 

[chickencoop789]

Give it a few weeks and they will settle down and be friends. They just have to establish the pecking order.