Pecking order fights

[Rennie]

I have 2 bantam wyandottes that i recently got off a friend separated from my other 3 birds (1 unknown roo and 2 orps - Honey and bluebell ) .. They can see and hear each other and have been like that for a few weeks now, Im not sure of the age of the wyandottes but i know the orps to be around 4-5 months old.

When i let them all out together Honey instantly tries to fight one of the wyandottes .. Im almost certain its always the same one too (they are identical so its hard to tell lol) Im thinking that Honey is the main hen of the orps and the other she is fighting with is the main hen of the wyandottes .. but what i want to know is how long will these fights last, How long will it take to sort the pecking order out again ...

The 2 other hens Bluebell and the other Wyandotte are never a problem .. My Roo is also very good with them all .. even trying to tread the wyandottes

I really want them all to live together nicely as a family lol but it looks like it wont ever happen ... Should i just put them together and let them go at it or gradually ease them in as im doing ?

What's the worst that can happen .. would Honey kill the other hen if she could ?


(I really need to give them names too .."Wyandotte" is a pain in the backside to keep writing ...my nephew called them Dot and Spot but i cant tell them apart yet and i know he cant

)

 

[gritsar]

My motto? If they aren't drawing blood, let them sort it out. There's no way around it, they have to go through it, and human interference will only delay the process.
They should settle down in a week or so.
Try to be on hand as much as possible. If blood is drawn then the injured one will have to be seperated. Yes, one hen can kill another; though I think that's pretty rare.

 

[Rennie]

Thanks .. Your probably right in the fact im not really helping by splitting them up..I guess I feel a bit sorry for the small one when Honey puffs up her feathers and starts ....


Tommorow is the day then

 

[scarter]

I put my new ones in the coop in a pen so that the oldies can see them and they can see the oldies. I leave them there a couple of weeks and then let them out after that. They seem to work things out between those bars before hand and for the most part leave each other alone.

 

[Rennie]

They are in the same coop but the run is seperated with a large window because thats the only thing i had i could use . So therefore they cant get to each other .. I think what i need to do is stick them all in the same side of the run together and keep my eyes on them like gritsar said, before i take the window out to get it back to its original size..Then if there are problems they can always go back to where they came from ..

 

[gritsar]

Just for the record, my flock has always lived as one but my two top hens still get into it at times. My roo steps in and breaks up the fights if they get too bad.

 

[Rennie]

Today I put them all together in the same run,I spent a few hours with them to make sure there wasn't serious fighting but it seems ok..Its nearly time to lock them up for the night and Im hoping they all go inside together and i have no problems .. We will see

 

[gritsar]

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[Rennie]

So far so good .. all in the same coop ready for the night ...

Im praying when i come to let them out tomorrow there are still 5, all alive and healthy