Last resort for introducing young chickens to older flock

[RoseZubal]

Hello I need help! I have 2 young hens and 1 young rooster I am trying to introduce to our older 3 hens. The 1st attempted ended badly where the older hen pecked and wounded the younger rooster. I put them in the run all together after having then in separate runs for 2 weeks. Then after he healed I tried the Separate the run and then went to the free ranging and it seemed ok, at night the young chickens went in there own coop. Once I felt comfortable I put them all in the run together without a separater and then we put them in the coop with the others at night now he has a big gash with blood again! I set them in there after the older ones went to bed. I don't know what else to do except maybe put a divider in the coop. I already did a divider in the run again. The young chickens are about 6 months old. Any suggestions?

 

[iwiw60]

Strange...at 6 months old that roo should be asserting his authority by now. Is there any particular reason you have a rooster in the first place? Are you planning on getting fertile eggs?

 

[RoseZubal]

It was an accident that we got him. He walks funny too to so thought maybe that's why he gets picked on more. Been giving him rooster poultry cell and the rooster booster poultry booster and it helps a little bu he still walk and runs funny. They will be 6 months in october...

 

[aart]

How big is your coop? Too small a space can make things much harder.
Are there places for them to hide out of line of sight or up and away from the bully birds?
Everytime you separate again you are starting over.
Is there one particular older hen that is doing the bloodying? If so, separate that bird for a week or two


Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.
See if any of them, or the links provided, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:


Integration of new chickens to flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search



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. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


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 blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, 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 and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[RoseZubal]

the coop is an 8x8 coop. yes it's one bird that does it the most. I put the divider in the coop yesterday for night time and during the day they are in a divider in the run. If this doesn't work then Stella (the bully) will have to be separated...

 

[RoseZubal]

Oh and there is a place for them to hid when they are not separated but seemed like the rooster just sat there or ran and Stella chased her.