How much trouble were you having when it was one boy and five girls? Were the girls panicking any time the boy got close? Was he ripping feathers off and tearing them up, causing wounds? Or were they getting along pretty peacefully? In my experience that 10 to 1 ratio is pure hogwash as far as behaviors go. How much trouble has trying to follow that "recommendation" caused you? 10 to 1 is not required. I often have 6 to 1 without any problems.
Adding more to try to get to some magical ratio that does nothing for you just means you will have to integrate more. That may go well, it may not as you have seen. If you want more hens for reasons other than trying to get to some mystical mythical magical ratio now while things are upset is probably a good time to do it, try to just go through the disruption integration can cause once and get it over with. But I would not do it just to reach a ratio.
The two hanging by themselves but with no fighting or uproar is pretty normal. It can take a while for them to sort out the pecking order and really merge into one flock. Even after they do that it's pretty common for certain hens to form "cliques" and spend time away from the rest of the flock. This happens a lot when a group of chicks are raised together, they often remain a group of special friends within the flock. That part of what you describe is great. My definition of a successful integration is that no one gets hurt. That appears to be happening with those two.
That's not happening with the leghorn. I don't know what is going on, it could be a few different things. It's possible they can be reconciled through integration techniques. It's possible they will never get along. Chicken society can be pretty complex, both in the pecking order and flock dominance, which are two different things. Each chicken has it's own personality and sometimes those can be incompatible. Sometimes they take a while to reach a working agreement.
So what can you do? First, you need to decide why you want chickens to start with. That might help you decide on the correct flock size for you. Then decide why you want a male. The only reason you need a male is if you want fertile eggs. Anything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, I have a few myself, but those are choices, not needs. That kind of stuff is totally your decision. You should make choices on what you want, not what one of us wants.
You can separate that hen for a while until she heals and try again. Try to house her in the vicinity so they can see each other across wire and use other stuff Aart mentioned. There might be a fight with injury, there may be some chasing and running away for a while, or they may actually get along.
You can permanently keep them separated.
You can try putting her two buddies with her if you wish to keep her company but you saw how successful it was when you tried introducing them as a group of three. The benefit in introducing a bunch at a time as opposed to singly is that they have a buddy when they hang separately from the flock. You often read on here that introducing a group causes the bullies spread the pecking and such around. You saw how well that worked when you tried. There can be times it might help spread the bullying but often these problems are a clash of personalities. I think that is what is going on between him and the leghorn.
You can get rid of one of them. Which one should be based on your goals. I solve for the peace of the flock. There have been times I've removed girls, there have been times I have removed boys.
Good luck, it's not always an easy decision.
Adding more to try to get to some magical ratio that does nothing for you just means you will have to integrate more. That may go well, it may not as you have seen. If you want more hens for reasons other than trying to get to some mystical mythical magical ratio now while things are upset is probably a good time to do it, try to just go through the disruption integration can cause once and get it over with. But I would not do it just to reach a ratio.
The two hanging by themselves but with no fighting or uproar is pretty normal. It can take a while for them to sort out the pecking order and really merge into one flock. Even after they do that it's pretty common for certain hens to form "cliques" and spend time away from the rest of the flock. This happens a lot when a group of chicks are raised together, they often remain a group of special friends within the flock. That part of what you describe is great. My definition of a successful integration is that no one gets hurt. That appears to be happening with those two.
That's not happening with the leghorn. I don't know what is going on, it could be a few different things. It's possible they can be reconciled through integration techniques. It's possible they will never get along. Chicken society can be pretty complex, both in the pecking order and flock dominance, which are two different things. Each chicken has it's own personality and sometimes those can be incompatible. Sometimes they take a while to reach a working agreement.
So what can you do? First, you need to decide why you want chickens to start with. That might help you decide on the correct flock size for you. Then decide why you want a male. The only reason you need a male is if you want fertile eggs. Anything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, I have a few myself, but those are choices, not needs. That kind of stuff is totally your decision. You should make choices on what you want, not what one of us wants.
You can separate that hen for a while until she heals and try again. Try to house her in the vicinity so they can see each other across wire and use other stuff Aart mentioned. There might be a fight with injury, there may be some chasing and running away for a while, or they may actually get along.
You can permanently keep them separated.
You can try putting her two buddies with her if you wish to keep her company but you saw how successful it was when you tried introducing them as a group of three. The benefit in introducing a bunch at a time as opposed to singly is that they have a buddy when they hang separately from the flock. You often read on here that introducing a group causes the bullies spread the pecking and such around. You saw how well that worked when you tried. There can be times it might help spread the bullying but often these problems are a clash of personalities. I think that is what is going on between him and the leghorn.
You can get rid of one of them. Which one should be based on your goals. I solve for the peace of the flock. There have been times I've removed girls, there have been times I have removed boys.
Good luck, it's not always an easy decision.
