Massacre

[leochickenmama]

I have, well, had three young chickns: two pullets and a six week old roo.

My husband decided to put them in the coop today.

One Golden Comet pullet is dead.

I rescued the other Golden Comet pullet before the bigger hens made mincemeat out of her. This was before we left for a few hours...

The roo lost 1/3 of his feathers, but he's all right, relatively speaking.

I'm really shocked that my chickens were such bullies.

RIP Dakota.

 

[colebarnhart]

Yeah, they can get violent and mean during an intergration. Had some issues with mine one time, but she is fine now.

 

[sonew123]

Im sorry Im not surprised though. I never just add more birds to the coops-for fear of what just happened to you--Its slow addition here..and even then-it aint pretty for a while.....It takes my girls months before they allow new additions to be added...Of course I have some old biddies that are just the bossiest things and that doesnt help either-hope your other babies heal fast-next time separate them off so they can all see eachother for a while and slowly let them out with supervision...

 

[leochickenmama]

That's exactly how Baby Bandit looks. He's a black Silkie. I'll try to post a pic tomorrow.

 

[leochickenmama]

I was against the integration...Montana, the surviving GC, and Dakota were only two months old. My other peeps are five/six months old. They were too small to put in there, I thought, but my husband raised chickens before and didn't have these issues.

Live and learn, but it's sad.

 

[Zonoma]

I find when integrating chickens with my flock that slower is better (I've done it several times now with no losses or notable injuries- *knock on wood). I have a small pen that I built just for intergration (2x2s and chicken wire with no bottom and a hinged lid). For 2-3 weeks, they spend their days in this pen inside the run and then I transfer them to a small kennel and put them to bed with the flock in the secure coop for the nights. It is time-consuming and frustrating but works well. If you watch your flock, they'll let you know when the newbies are 'accepted'. They'll still pick on them (pecking order and all) but they are less likely to injure them severely.

Good luck with your next try! I'd wait til they were healed, though.