New girl being bullied.

[Bellavista]

I'm new to raising chickens so I need some advise.

We started our coop around Christmas 2013 with an americauna, a black austrolorp, a black copper maran and a black partridge rock. They all got along pretty well, except the americauna was getting bullied some by the maran. I separated the maran for a week and that seems to have corrected the problem. Then a couple of weeks ago we were given a barred rock. Not sure of her age but she is the bully now, again with the americauna more than the others. They seem to be figuring it out though and I don't think I need to intervene.

Yesterday, we picked up an olive egger that is quite pretty and I'm excited to see her eggs. We waited until everyone had been sleeping for a couple of hours and put her into the coop. This morning, everyone, including our little picked on americauna, is attacking her so she is staying up on the roost for protection. Should I remove her and try to put her back in tonight, or should I just leave everything alone so they can work things out. I feel sorry for her.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

You can't just throw new birds into a flock. There is a pecking order within the flock that must be adhered to with every member at all times.

The best way to integrate new birds is to keep the new bird in a cage or behind a fence, but within the flock at all times. Leave this bird/birds in the cage for several weeks. Everybody sees, nobody touches. This allows the original flock to reorganize and work out the pecking order from behind wire. Then in a few weeks, when mixing day comes, there is little if any aggression. Of course watch all of them that first week and always intervene if it turns bloody.

For now, separate the new one and apply some blu-kote on any wounds so they do not infect.

Good luck with your flock and always integrate slowly over a few weeks. Welcome to our flock!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! I would remove her if you are not there to supervise, things can get ugly pretty fast and she could get seriously hurt of killed. While the sneaking them in overnight sometimes works some of the older birds aren't that easy to fool, even if you aren't going to quarantine it is usually better to do a gradual introduction by keeping the birds separated in the coop/run by wire so they can see each other for awhile and interact but not touch, if she is being attacked you might want to try this. There are some nice articles in the Learning Center about integrating new birds and bullying behavior in birds. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock and a couple of pecking order and bullying https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/a-guide-to-understanding-the-chicken-pecking-order and https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bullying-behavior-in-chickens

 

[Bellavista]

Thanks. I quarantined her at one end of the run so I will keep her like that for a couple of weeks and try again. Meanwhile, I think my americauna may be going broody as she won't leave the nest today. I'll keep watching her.

 

[gander007]