Merging two flocks - not being successful

[lilyrose]

Has anybody out there actually kept two separate flocks? I have been unsuccessful in merging my original flock of five with five four month old. Not willing to watch the killing. Am I crazy to build another coop?

 

[centrarchid]

I run between 2 and five every year.

 

[lilyrose]

Do you free range, or is your set up such that they are just kept separate?

 

[centrarchid]

I free-range a good portion with about 50 on ground now and that will triple over summer for a while. Another 40 are confined to breeding pens. Currently I have two discrete flocks that are free-ranging on about five acres. Very soon like in next couple of weeks a much larger subflock of juveniles will be formed from the offspring of one flock. This will be repeated twice more with last round in August to saturate property and by September the elder subflock will be culled or confined with process continued in timely manner with other subflocks.

One flock is very small based on a breeding pair. This setup is maintained almost year round for observations on behavior. Second flock currently operates in pasture to west of house and has 8 broodies that raise chicks either from breeding pens or out of broody hen and harem master. The flocks have very little overlap in terms of where they range. Roost cites are discrete and roughly 300 feet apart. Both flocks are lead by a harem master (Gamecock near house and Dominique X in pasture). Subflocks operate largely within range of flocks but are excluded from roosting cites of harem masters, mostly by actions of hens.

Best current info on flock around house explores broody behavior of harem master that is seldom realized in multi-hen harems.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882368/what-to-look-for-in-a-broody-rooster

I manipulate vegetation and space roosting sites and feeding stations to promote flock stability and static territory boundaries. It is easy to do and roost cites can be closer than I currently run.

 

[centrarchid]

Describe in more detail what is going on and what resources you have to manage.

 

[Traphill]

I have 3 coops and 3 flocks...... late afternoon they are all out in the yard and the oldest girls are the boss but it all works out in the end. I have never moved new ones in with an existing I am sure that would be hard.

 

[donrae]

Your four month old birds are just now at the age where I but them in with the big girls. I'd say just give it more time, then keep trying. They may never be a cohesive flock, but they'll tolerate each other if you have lots of space and some hiding places for the littles.

 

[subhanalah]

I've noticed that birds are so individual, that often times, they find better chemistry with birds from the introduced flock, and this is how the flocks become more cohesive. It just takes a bit of time and routine. They hate change more than they hate new chickens.

 

[Mrs. K]

Winter will merge two subflocks. I have noticed that after an introduction, when all are tolerant of each other, when let out to free range, they form two groups. However, after the winter, they are one solid group. When you are cold you are not so picky as to who you associate with?

Mrs K

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chickens are unable to recognize more than about 100 other chickens. When the number of birds exceed this the flock fractures or divides into two or more flocks. This is why a commercial hatching egg operation doesn't erupt into a free-for-all. Every hen and rooster knows its place within its own little flock and for the most part each bird stays in that place.

I have seen setups like certrarchid's before, and for the most part all that was needed is enough room and enough hens so that each adult rooster was more worried about patrolling his territory and keeping his lady friends from traipsing off with another rooster, than he was worried about stealing another rooster's lady friends.

Jealousy, plus enough land, and hens can make a rooster a home body, but a lack of the last two can result in him becoming a gambling man who according to the Rock band The Animals only needs a suite case and a gun.