New Chicken Mama & LOVE IT!

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MOMMYHENOF16

In the Brooder
Jun 14, 2022
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:frow
Hello all! We became chick parents on March 17th of this year, and haven’t looked back! We absolutely LOVE our birds!
We are in Georgia, on our little farm, raising 6 kids, and now 16 chickens, plus 3 dogs, a set of parakeets, and 2 cats! We hope to do goats in the near future, and would love to get a Jerusalem Donkey at some point! Anyway, we are just so happy with our chicks!

We kind of have a strange collection of birds though…..we didn’t get them all at once.

CHICKEN MATH IS SO REAL!!! 😂😂

We started out with 2 - our Easter Egger/ Americana = Dotti
And our first Buff Orphington = Sunflower

Then, a few weeks later, decided we needed to get 6 more, but came away with 10 more. 🤣
We left with 6 more Buff Orphingtons and 4 Black Australorps.

Then we adopted 2 Dominique/Bantam mixes from friends = they are 1 year old. Lucy & Ethal.
They are sweet but have some spice to them too. They are the only 2 laying right now.

Then a couple more weeks later, and we had to get 3 Barred Rocks….you know, just because they are adorable and SO friendly. We LOVE our Baby Barred Rocks!! We love them all! My extended family think I’m crazy. They call me the crazy chicken lady now. Haha 😆 I don’t care, I’m in love with my chicks! 😍

Anyway….as with anything and especially farming skills, we are learning as we go.

The biggest challenge we are facing right now, is HOW TO MERGE OUR VARIOUS MINI FLOCKS TOGETHER, without there being any bullying….or if there is, how long should we tolerate that and allow for adjustment time?

Also - I feel like there might be a rooster or 2 hiding among my hens, and I have no idea how to be sure of that at this point.

Our LORPS are about 12 weeks old.

Our Buffs are the same age approximately.

Our Americana - is going to be 16 weeks old this Thursday.

Her sister, Sunflower, sadly was murdered last week by a dog (not ours) that pushed its way into the run area (was about a 100 pound dog) and killed our sweet sweet girl right in front of my 10 year old daughter. It was such a harsh reality check for my girl, and living on a farm….our hearts are healing. But still, we tear up now and again and probably always will when we remember her. 🌻😢💔

Like we know death is highly probable in the chicken world, with everything wanting to eat them.

But, it was how it happened, so tragic, so sudden, and by a dog we hardly knew….and it was one of our first 2 girls. 😭

Anyway…..if anyone has any suggestions that could be helpful for how to best merge these mini flocks together? We would appreciate any helpful tips!

Btw - we have tried the “just put in the coop at night” and they all wake up together method.
That worked with Honey (a Buff) who has become very close to Dotti (our Americana who lost Sunflower) it was like she knew what her job was….and that was to come along and help heal Dotti’s loss. Animals are truly amazing!

Anyway, we tried doing this same method with our lorps, but it didn’t go over very well.

So we have separated them for now. Trying to figure out our next step. Thanks for any help!

Georgia googly eyed mommy hen here….😍
 
Try the see no touch method. It sounds like you have beautiful flocks. I struggle with the same issue though. I have 2 mini flocks. All I want to do is put all my hens together but they say NO. I have some harsh personalities in my flock though. Main thing is give them plenty of space with multiple feeders and waterer.
 
Hello, and welcome to BYC. There will always be some fighting/bullying when introducing birds to one another. As long as blood is not being drawn, I would provide multiple food and water stations, hiding places and allow them to work things out. Have you considered hotwire around your coop/pen in case the dog returns?
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
Sorry about the dog attack. What is your run made of? Running a few hot wires around their setup does wonders at convincing dogs that chickens are terrifying creatures not to be messed with.
That whole "put the new birds in the coop at night and they'll all wake up together one big happy flock" nonsense can easily lead to disaster. Chickens are not stupid and they KNOW that the new flock members are not THEIR flock members. I read somewhere that chickens can remember up to 200 different faces.
At any rate, you need to do the "look don't touch" method of gradual introduction. Pen off an area large enough for the new birds to be in where they can't get out and the original birds can't get in. Leave them that way for at least a week.
After that time is up, leave the originals locked in the coop and let the new birds out to explore the run for at least an hour. Make sure you have lots and lots of "stuff" in the run for places to get out of the line of sight and jump up on. After the newbies have explored the new digs, let out the originals and stay to monitor. Unless a bird is literally being chased down, pinned and attacked, leave them to sort things out. There WILL be pecking and may even a little blood and perhaps lots of screaming. Just observe. Only intervene if someone is truly being attacked. Have multiple food and water stations so everyone has a place to eat. When I have a batch of newly weaned birds in the flock, I like to distribute their fermented mash around on flat rocks scattered about the run and on the stumps.
Then leave the door open to the coop and let the newbies join the original flock when they are ready to do so.
 

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