Pecking order question

[Yard full o' rocks]

After dark last night we slipped our 3 partridge rock hens (16 week olds) into the main coop with the 10 other "girls". As expected, they are being picked on today. The 3 new girls are all huddled together, standing on top of the watering bucket. There's no blood, nothing bad.....just wondering how long it takes for them to sort things out so that the newbies aren't the constant source of hassassment. THANKS

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

There is no telling how long it will take, couple days at the most. Make sure the others aren't keeping them away from the food and water. When the new comers pick a spot to "hide out" in I usually move a feeder and waterer over near them. One thing that seems to help is tonight when they go in to roost and after it gets pretty dark, if the new comers are roosting together split them up and mix them in with the others. They are 2 flocks now, by spliting them up and mixing you are breaking up newcomers flock. I have found that if the newcomers are different color than the exsiting it takes longer to mix.

Steve in NC

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Quote:
Thanks much!!!! Will give it a try tonite....

Scott

 

[ranchhand]

Took mine 2 weeks, and the original hens still hang out together. Kind of like teenage girls in a clique.

 

[cmom]

I agree. I put out another feeder and waterer out in their run and added another pop door to the coop.