Keeping the peace

[plantguy90]

My first two hens were out 2 months old, and now they are about 7-8. Along the way we lost 2. My first two ladies are best buds and they dont tolerate anyone new. I just got 2 more, because we always wanted 4, but these new girls are about 3-4 months my guess. The older gals are mean and circle the new girls smaller cage constantly, and will immeditalely go after the new girls if given a chance. I dunno if it will get better, and I am thinking about trying the trick of taking out the older birds and reintroducing them later as the new birds, but I had one question; does that trick work on birds that are older and bigger than the "established" birds? How long do you keep the bad bird out? Another question I have is the point of removing the bird is to let her forget her home so you have to move her so she cant see the coop/run, right?

 

[chookchick]

Have you kept them "separate but visible" for 3 weeks? It takes time to integrate new hens. The fact that they go after them is not because they are mean, but because the newbies are seen as a threat of disease, and a threat to valuable resources of space, food and water. I would not try and integrate them until you've done the three weeks, unless you can free-range them together. During that time, they will start to accept each other as "part of the flock". Moving them around just messes up that process. You need to have plenty of room for all, at least two feeders, and places for them to get away (roosts, dividers, etc..) when you do integrate. I'll get more info....

From How To pages:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

 

[plantguy90]

Not three weeks yet; more like five days. The new girls were kept separate with a bunny cage in the run, which is 6'x12'. The run has a nesting box and a doghouse for a roost. The new girls just got moved into a large dog carrier, as the bunny cage was too cramped. Its when I was cleaning the cage when they had a chance to mix, and the old girls are tough, they always have been on new members, as I added a 3rd before and they accepted her after beating her up a bit and back then they were all the same size. I am hoping a separate cage is enough, I'd rather not have to divide the coop.