Introducing single hen

[MightyMama]

I have a small flock of 3 and I've been introducing one more to it. Yesterday was their first day to free range together. I had to stand near and protect the new girl, but all in all it went okay as long as I was near.

How long does it typically take before they all stop picking on her and I can let them do their thing without supervision? The temp is dropping and I really don't want to have to stand outside in this cold for 2 hours just so they can free range. They've been seeing each other through fences for over a week and I've been putting the new girl in the roost at night/removing her early in the morning for the last 3 nights.

I know some pecking order will happen, but she's smaller then the others and I'm afraid that the three of them together will be too much. How will I know how much is enough and when I really need to step in?

 

[azygous]

Here's an article I wrote about my experiences of adding a single adult hen to the flock. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock

I takes about three weeks for the new hen to be absorbed into the flock. I do it gradually, and this helps the hen retain her self confidence. It does involve permitting the flock to experience some conflict during this adjustment. Just be ready to step in if things get overwhelming for the new hen. For example, "overwhelming" would involve a couple of hens standing on the new hen's back and wailing away at her head with their beaks. An occasional skirmish is to be expected until everyone settles into the new social ranking order.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you can section off a corner and introduce her to one bird. There will be some scuffling, but it is one on one, then introduce the pair back into the main set up.

 

[MightyMama]

Well, life got more complicated. A hawk took one of our 4 girls while they were having their first unsupervised afternoon free-ranging.

So now they are going to be locked up for a while until the hawk moves on from our area. They are all subdued today.

How am I supposed to be giving them time to work out their pecking order in a small run? I'm almost to the point of just letting them figure it out and hoping for the best. They've been sleeping together, I put the new girl in after dark and take her out before morning light. The hen that was taken was the girl in the middle of the pecking order.

Does anyone think it will be easier to try to integrate her now while they rework the structure of their flock? Or should I still just take this super slow?

 

[chickens really]

Holy...Sorry....Leave her in but watch them..Only free range when your outside....

 

[cottontail farm]

Well, life got more complicated. A hawk took one of our 4 girls while they were having their first unsupervised afternoon free-ranging.

So now they are going to be locked up for a while until the hawk moves on from our area. They are all subdued today.

How am I supposed to be giving them time to work out their pecking order in a small run? I'm almost to the point of just letting them figure it out and hoping for the best. They've been sleeping together, I put the new girl in after dark and take her out before morning light. The hen that was taken was the girl in the middle of the pecking order.

Does anyone think it will be easier to try to integrate her now while they rework the structure of their flock? Or should I still just take this super slow?

It would think that now is the perfect time to put her in with the flock since they're figuring out a new pecking order anyway. In other words, they have other things to think about besides the new hen. I would just put her in at night and let everyone work it out. Check on them of course but that's what i'd do. In my experience adding new chickens is never the big deal I worry it will be but I have a bigger flock and a large run with a lot of hiding places. Just make sure she has room to get away from everyone if she needs to.

 

[MightyMama]

Well, almost a week later and other than the first day, which was excitedly not bad, it's getting increasingly worse. If I try to let them "fix it themselves", the new-ish one just hides in a nesting box the entire day because the other two are so mean. So I am back to keeping her in a cage, or I pen up the other two buttheads and let the new girl have the run. I tried to separate the two buttheads, but it made no difference. New girl was losing weight again, one of my older hens started getting the runs again (after months of dealing with it, and finally using Tylan to fix it, I'm super frustrated with that).

I'm at the end of my wits with this, and am ready to just start fresh. I think if they can't make it work by the time their food runs out, they will be turned into stew.

 

[azygous]

That's the option when all else fails, after all. Sometimes hens have personality conflicts just as we do, and some simply can't live with others.

 

[cottontail farm]

Well, almost a week later and other than the first day, which was excitedly not bad, it's getting increasingly worse. If I try to let them "fix it themselves", the new-ish one just hides in a nesting box the entire day because the other two are so mean. So I am back to keeping her in a cage, or I pen up the other two buttheads and let the new girl have the run. I tried to separate the two buttheads, but it made no difference. New girl was losing weight again, one of my older hens started getting the runs again (after months of dealing with it, and finally using Tylan to fix it, I'm super frustrated with that).

I'm at the end of my wits with this, and am ready to just start fresh. I think if they can't make it work by the time their food runs out, they will be turned into stew.

Sorry to hear it's been this hard. Starting over might be a good option. I think unfortunately you're getting a taste of how things will go if you try adding new birds again. I wonder why these hens are making life so difficult? I swear, my birds all mostly ignored each other when new ones were added.

 

[chicken4prez]

Well, almost a week later and other than the first day, which was excitedly not bad, it's getting increasingly worse. If I try to let them "fix it themselves", the new-ish one just hides in a nesting box the entire day because the other two are so mean. So I am back to keeping her in a cage, or I pen up the other two buttheads and let the new girl have the run. I tried to separate the two buttheads, but it made no difference. New girl was losing weight again, one of my older hens started getting the runs again (after months of dealing with it, and finally using Tylan to fix it, I'm super frustrated with that).

I'm at the end of my wits with this, and am ready to just start fresh. I think if they can't make it work by the time their food runs out, they will be turned into stew.

I've had your exact same problem with one of my hens before. It's so frustrating! Do you have a dog cage or something that would work for her so she ca get the know the others but still be protected? A separate area inside your run would be nice for her too.