loulusea
Chirping
Hi everyone!
First time chicken mama here.
I have a flock of 20 chickens of basically three cohorts.
First group (6 Chickens): 12-14 weeks old, bantam mottled chochin rooster part of this group. (We had to re-home him to a good farm). So he left our flock about 2 weeks ago. (This group has 5 chickens post rooster)
Second group (10 chickens): 10-12 weeks old. This group was mostly integrated into group one before my rooster left.
Third group (5 chickens): 6-8 weeks old. Put them in large kennel in coop after fully feathered to start the integration process. Rooster is gone.
It's been about 2 weeks of them in the coop and when I let my birds out to free range I'd let the third group out into our Coop/run to Roam since it's large.
2 days ago I let the third group out into the yard under supervision to free range for the first time. And the second group of chickens just hate this third group. The first group don't really care they'll Peck them away if they get in their way but they don't go out of their way or chase them.
I've noticed the entire flock is re-establishing a pecking order since my rooster left. The integration process with my first two groups seemed to go a lot smoother and much faster and I'm wondering if that's cuz I had the rooster.
I would appreciate any feedback or shared experiences or thoughts around what I'm doing or what I should be doing to help my second group not hate my third group.
Some of the factors I was thinking could be of influence:
1.) no longer having my rooster who helped maintain the pecking order
2.) group two was at the bottom of the pecking order and now that the rooster left they're trying to get higher up so they're bullying the third group
3.) size difference: The third group only has five chickens whereas the first two group combined equals 20 chickens. I remember reading that the number should be more similar for a smoother integration.
I know this was a lot, So I really appreciate it if you're still reading. I tried to give some context to hopefully help paint the picture of what's going on. I'm trying to remain hopeful that my chickens will eventually coexist.
Thanks again for your time and help.
First time chicken mama here.
I have a flock of 20 chickens of basically three cohorts.
First group (6 Chickens): 12-14 weeks old, bantam mottled chochin rooster part of this group. (We had to re-home him to a good farm). So he left our flock about 2 weeks ago. (This group has 5 chickens post rooster)
Second group (10 chickens): 10-12 weeks old. This group was mostly integrated into group one before my rooster left.
Third group (5 chickens): 6-8 weeks old. Put them in large kennel in coop after fully feathered to start the integration process. Rooster is gone.
It's been about 2 weeks of them in the coop and when I let my birds out to free range I'd let the third group out into our Coop/run to Roam since it's large.
2 days ago I let the third group out into the yard under supervision to free range for the first time. And the second group of chickens just hate this third group. The first group don't really care they'll Peck them away if they get in their way but they don't go out of their way or chase them.
I've noticed the entire flock is re-establishing a pecking order since my rooster left. The integration process with my first two groups seemed to go a lot smoother and much faster and I'm wondering if that's cuz I had the rooster.
I would appreciate any feedback or shared experiences or thoughts around what I'm doing or what I should be doing to help my second group not hate my third group.
Some of the factors I was thinking could be of influence:
1.) no longer having my rooster who helped maintain the pecking order
2.) group two was at the bottom of the pecking order and now that the rooster left they're trying to get higher up so they're bullying the third group
3.) size difference: The third group only has five chickens whereas the first two group combined equals 20 chickens. I remember reading that the number should be more similar for a smoother integration.
I know this was a lot, So I really appreciate it if you're still reading. I tried to give some context to hopefully help paint the picture of what's going on. I'm trying to remain hopeful that my chickens will eventually coexist.
Thanks again for your time and help.
