Erin Valerie
In the Brooder
- May 29, 2017
- 16
- 2
- 21
Hi everyone!
I am currently four days into housing two 13 week old Buff Orpingtons in a sectioned-off portion of our coop. They are separated by hardware cloth from the rest of our 16-18 week old mixed flock, which is composed of 2 brahmas, 2 bantam frizzle cochins, and 2 bantam silkies. Despite their age, the Orps are bigger than all four of the bantams at this point. I had read that they are generally a sweeter, more submissive bird, but these ones are precocious, confident, and a little domineering. I have tried letting them free-range with the rest of the flock a couple of times now but have encountered some issues.
My main question at this point is whether we'll be able to integrate these two big gals, who've been raised as a spoiled super duo for the last six weeks.
Our buff frizzle pullet (they're all pullets, as best I can tell at this point) appears to be top of the pecking order of the main six, but she's also the smallest bird we have, and this is where we seem to be running into our first snag...
Perhaps she's not the boss bird (I'm new to this), but she is the most assertive, the most curious, and always the first out of the coop. So naturally she was the first to approach the Buff Orpingtons once they were out together, and she took an immediate, curious, friendly-seeming interest in them-- I thought maybe that was because she's very accepting, or because they're the same color as her, but I'm new to this, so maybe she's actually being dominant? (This smiley is a pretty good example of her behavior, ha:
) Of course, they're more than twice her size at this point and after being raised for the last month as a two-bird flock, they seem to have decided to take a Jurrasic Park-type Velociraptor approach with her and come at her together, from either side, etc, always as a unit, either jumping on top of her or pecking her head. Because she's the bravest one, the other five have mostly stayed out of the way until I've removed the Orpingtons. They made a similar approach to the other frizzle, but didn't get to the point of pecking her before I stepped in.
Now maybe I should just stand back and let them work this out on their own, but I'm a little worried they'll draw blood. They seem fairly single-minded once they've decided the frizzle is in their way. They are definitely intimidated by the bigger brahmas, but I'm not sure it'll take too long for the Orps to figure out those two are the most submissive birds in the flock.
I've also noticed that the buff frizzle has started copying the Orpington behavior with the rest of them, so now she'll jump on top of the brahmas, or charge the silkies, etc.
I'm not really sure what to do. I can keep them separated at nighttime in the coop indefinitely, but I'd prefer to keep them all in the run during the day. Free-ranging two and penning the others doesn't make much sense for the long haul. They need to get used to being in the run together anyway, as I'm not comfortable free-ranging them on days I'm away from the house.
Is it possible they'll stop picking on the smaller birds? Have I ruined any chance of that by raising them alone for so long? Have any of you had success with introducing two big, confident birds to a smaller flock? I thought introducing them to the coop/run a few days after the other girls went in would put them at a bit of a disadvantage, and help this process, but they seem to think the world is theirs.
I am currently four days into housing two 13 week old Buff Orpingtons in a sectioned-off portion of our coop. They are separated by hardware cloth from the rest of our 16-18 week old mixed flock, which is composed of 2 brahmas, 2 bantam frizzle cochins, and 2 bantam silkies. Despite their age, the Orps are bigger than all four of the bantams at this point. I had read that they are generally a sweeter, more submissive bird, but these ones are precocious, confident, and a little domineering. I have tried letting them free-range with the rest of the flock a couple of times now but have encountered some issues.
My main question at this point is whether we'll be able to integrate these two big gals, who've been raised as a spoiled super duo for the last six weeks.
Our buff frizzle pullet (they're all pullets, as best I can tell at this point) appears to be top of the pecking order of the main six, but she's also the smallest bird we have, and this is where we seem to be running into our first snag...
Perhaps she's not the boss bird (I'm new to this), but she is the most assertive, the most curious, and always the first out of the coop. So naturally she was the first to approach the Buff Orpingtons once they were out together, and she took an immediate, curious, friendly-seeming interest in them-- I thought maybe that was because she's very accepting, or because they're the same color as her, but I'm new to this, so maybe she's actually being dominant? (This smiley is a pretty good example of her behavior, ha:
) Of course, they're more than twice her size at this point and after being raised for the last month as a two-bird flock, they seem to have decided to take a Jurrasic Park-type Velociraptor approach with her and come at her together, from either side, etc, always as a unit, either jumping on top of her or pecking her head. Because she's the bravest one, the other five have mostly stayed out of the way until I've removed the Orpingtons. They made a similar approach to the other frizzle, but didn't get to the point of pecking her before I stepped in. Now maybe I should just stand back and let them work this out on their own, but I'm a little worried they'll draw blood. They seem fairly single-minded once they've decided the frizzle is in their way. They are definitely intimidated by the bigger brahmas, but I'm not sure it'll take too long for the Orps to figure out those two are the most submissive birds in the flock.
I've also noticed that the buff frizzle has started copying the Orpington behavior with the rest of them, so now she'll jump on top of the brahmas, or charge the silkies, etc.
I'm not really sure what to do. I can keep them separated at nighttime in the coop indefinitely, but I'd prefer to keep them all in the run during the day. Free-ranging two and penning the others doesn't make much sense for the long haul. They need to get used to being in the run together anyway, as I'm not comfortable free-ranging them on days I'm away from the house.
Is it possible they'll stop picking on the smaller birds? Have I ruined any chance of that by raising them alone for so long? Have any of you had success with introducing two big, confident birds to a smaller flock? I thought introducing them to the coop/run a few days after the other girls went in would put them at a bit of a disadvantage, and help this process, but they seem to think the world is theirs.
