INTROUCING NEW HENS

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Hi all. New Member here in Lincolnshire, UK. I've kept bantam hens, mostly for the grandchildren, but also for the calm they bring (usually!) for 5 years. Just half a dozen or so, depending on hatch and despatch issues. We just lost all of our hens but one to a neighbour's dog. So - to keep the one remaining hybrid maran company we bought one silkie, one lavender pekin hen and we were given one lonely lavender pekin cock. Hurray - back to a compliment of 4 hens …. except that all is not well in the hen house. The original maran is quite bullish and doesn't mingle, although she gets chased to feather flusters by the cock, the two lavender pekins rub along very well, and the one silkie - Elivs - looks oh so alone. . There's not much we can do about the maran. She's always been stand-offish, but would it help if we bought another silkie to keep Elvis company? Just trying to restore balance to the hen house. Any suggestions welcome, thanks!

 

[aart]

Integration Basics:

It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.

This used to be a better search, new format has reduced it's efficacy, but still:
Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading, BUT some info is outdated IMO:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[Ridgerunner]

How old are the new ones? Level of maturity is a big factor in how they get along.

How much room, in feet, do you have in your coop and in your run? The more room the better. It sounds like you have integrated other chickens before and that you have had more chickens than this so room is probably not an issue.

How long have they been together? Sometimes it takes a while for them to bond into a flock.

Are your Pekins also bantam? I think your UK Pekin are what we call Cochin. I assume the Silkie and your mixed hen are bantam.

It's hard to know how to respond without more information, just too many if's. My definition of a successful integration is that no one gets injured, especially if there are maturity level differences. If you can manage that then the other things tend to work themselves out over time. I hesitate to say just bring in another chicken because sometimes you can bring in a problem, though that may be a solution for you.

In any case, welcome to the forum, glad you found us.