New flock members being bullied...what do I do?

[ChristieB]

No worries, newbies need to stick together lol.
I'd keep them locked in the coop another couple days so they know where to go back to

 

[RedKell]

Well, that's seriously not working. They have spent all day being picked on and bullied. They are seriously not coping with the stress, and I doubt the heat is helping (got to 37, which is 98.6). The flock have been restricting their access to food and water. One is so cowered she will not move out of the corner she is hiding in. Poor girl has a big bald spot on the back of her neck, and a few bloody bits on her comb

So I have set up a small pen inside the main enclosure for them. It is too small, but is the best I can come up with. Now they can at least eat and drink without getting beaten up.
How long should I leave them separate before I try to re-introduce them?? I don't want them in the small pen for too long if I can help it, as it really isn't the chook hilton

 

[aart]

That space is small - minimal, coop is tiny for 6 birds....but it's done, so now what?

Maybe let existing 4 out to range, put food and water out for them.
Leave 2 new birds confined to coop and run for the day so they can rest, eat and get familiar with new digs.
Maybe keep new birds in wire crate for night time just to avoid any blood shed at roost time.
Do this for a week or so, then let new birds out to range also....see what happens.

Just a suggestion...best of luck to you.


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