Happy_chickening
Chirping
I have a long winded story on my integration experience, but i thought I'd share it in case anyone else runs into a similar situation.
So to start I have only 3 chickens: Pecky (short for Repecka)the boss girl, Vicki, and Chicken.
Back at the beginning of winter Chicken hurt her leg pretty bad so I had to separate her. I set her up in her own spot in a large rabbit cage in the shed with a heater. I ended up getting some medicine for her and it took a long time to heal (about 2 weeks) but then she went into a stress molt and i kept her separated even longer so the other 2 wouldn't peck at her bald spots. After a week i made a separated spot in the coop so they could see eachother all day long and get used to eachother again. I would take her outside with us for some yard time but would have her in an enclosure. The other 2 would come over to check her out and growl at her and start pecking at her through the cage. I would have to keep close watch on the other 2 so they wouldn't attack her. I would always have mealworms on hand as a distraction!
This went on for a couple more weeks, or longer, until her feathers grew back in. I started to take them for yard time together, no enclosure, and let them start discussing pecking order.
I know it has to happen but i would put an end to it when there was blood. It got pretty vicious at times and it stressed me out every time we went out for yard time i was dreading it. Pecky is the boss girl and she got pretty nasty with Chicken and chicken always got the losing end. I thought, one day she'll have to learn to stop challenging Pecky and that will be that. Vicki (whose the "baby") even got in on the action a few times but i worried with her because Chicken has some weight on her and could probably hurt Vicki. Anyways in one of these fights Vicki ended up hurting HER leg and couldn't move much so now i had to put Vicki in Chickens separate coop spot and Chicken had to go back to the shed only because i had no room to do 2 separate spots and also because i didn't want Vicki isolated from Pecky and do the introduction with her also.
So now a set back until Vickis leg got better....about a week and a half.
Then Chicken got moved back to the separated spot in the coop and we had to start ALL over again. Back to getting used to eachother in the coop and more stressful yard time. I kept putting Chicken in the shed only for bedtime because she actually seemed to like it there and because Pecky hasn't accepted her yet and i didn't want to have a stressful bedtime so she would go to the shed for night and i would go and put her in her separate spot first thing in the morning.
I was at the point where i wasn't sure if this was ever going to work and that they'd never be able to live in harmony because of all the fighting at yard time. I even had a backup plan just in case Chicken would need her own house.
Last weekend i decided that's it. I was going to try the big move and see how Pecky would act with chicken in the coop. Before i opened their run i added a few extra perches to their sheltered outdoor spot for something new to do and give them more options for perching. I opened it all up so that Chicken could run out if she had to. I went to go let them all out together and discovered Vicki in the corner acting weird. She hurt her leg...again. she must have landed off her perch wrong. So now Chicken had absolutely no choice because Vicki needed to go in the separated spot to heal her leg and not be isolated from Pecky.
I let Pecky and chicken out in the yard together and they had to hash it out that day because im done with separating Chicken. The had a good discussion...no blood this time but Pecky sure let her know whose boss. Chicken finally ran away from Pecky instead of challenging her! That was the turning point. I let them both go in and out of the coop...left all the doors open so Chicken could run for her life if she had to. Chicken wanted to check out the whole place so Pecky was always right there because everything is Pecky's and what i also did was put stop pick all over Chicken to minimize to pecking on the face. By evening they seemed kind of ok. Calmer then earlier and Pecky even let Chicken up on the perch! I closed the doors and they survived for the meantime.
Then bedtime came and i figured well, better try to get her in the coop for the night too and see how THAT goes. For Vicki i put some chicken wire up on one of the nesting boxes so that she could be in there at night too.
It was a bit stressful because Pecky has to be first for bedtime so i got her on the roost then Chicken got up there with a bit of commotion but not too bad. As soon as they were on the roost I shut the light off and closed the door. As soon as the lights go out they're done but i stood out there and listened for a bit. Nothing. It was good!
So that was last weekend. During this past week Vicki has been in the separate spot to heal her leg and she comes out for yard time. I think Pecky misses her because they stick together and she gets protective of Vicki when Chicken gets close to her.
Chicken still hasn't had words with Vicki yet because the day Chicken was integrated wast the day Vicki hurt her leg. Chicken will try to challenge Vicki at yard time but Vicki isn't strong enough for a fight so I'm always keeping Chicken away, but there's been times where Pecky will get between her and Vicki. I think this weekend i will finally get them all in the coop together...her leg seems better. I feel ok knowing Pecky will stand up for Vicki and she'll keep reminding Chicken whose boss. Every once in a while theres a reminder peck to keep Chicken in line but no blood and i still use stop pick once in a while just in case.
Its been a LONG journey and i almost felt defeat a couple times, but i think the key is patience and persistence!
So to start I have only 3 chickens: Pecky (short for Repecka)the boss girl, Vicki, and Chicken.
Back at the beginning of winter Chicken hurt her leg pretty bad so I had to separate her. I set her up in her own spot in a large rabbit cage in the shed with a heater. I ended up getting some medicine for her and it took a long time to heal (about 2 weeks) but then she went into a stress molt and i kept her separated even longer so the other 2 wouldn't peck at her bald spots. After a week i made a separated spot in the coop so they could see eachother all day long and get used to eachother again. I would take her outside with us for some yard time but would have her in an enclosure. The other 2 would come over to check her out and growl at her and start pecking at her through the cage. I would have to keep close watch on the other 2 so they wouldn't attack her. I would always have mealworms on hand as a distraction!
This went on for a couple more weeks, or longer, until her feathers grew back in. I started to take them for yard time together, no enclosure, and let them start discussing pecking order.
I know it has to happen but i would put an end to it when there was blood. It got pretty vicious at times and it stressed me out every time we went out for yard time i was dreading it. Pecky is the boss girl and she got pretty nasty with Chicken and chicken always got the losing end. I thought, one day she'll have to learn to stop challenging Pecky and that will be that. Vicki (whose the "baby") even got in on the action a few times but i worried with her because Chicken has some weight on her and could probably hurt Vicki. Anyways in one of these fights Vicki ended up hurting HER leg and couldn't move much so now i had to put Vicki in Chickens separate coop spot and Chicken had to go back to the shed only because i had no room to do 2 separate spots and also because i didn't want Vicki isolated from Pecky and do the introduction with her also.
So now a set back until Vickis leg got better....about a week and a half.
Then Chicken got moved back to the separated spot in the coop and we had to start ALL over again. Back to getting used to eachother in the coop and more stressful yard time. I kept putting Chicken in the shed only for bedtime because she actually seemed to like it there and because Pecky hasn't accepted her yet and i didn't want to have a stressful bedtime so she would go to the shed for night and i would go and put her in her separate spot first thing in the morning.
I was at the point where i wasn't sure if this was ever going to work and that they'd never be able to live in harmony because of all the fighting at yard time. I even had a backup plan just in case Chicken would need her own house.
Last weekend i decided that's it. I was going to try the big move and see how Pecky would act with chicken in the coop. Before i opened their run i added a few extra perches to their sheltered outdoor spot for something new to do and give them more options for perching. I opened it all up so that Chicken could run out if she had to. I went to go let them all out together and discovered Vicki in the corner acting weird. She hurt her leg...again. she must have landed off her perch wrong. So now Chicken had absolutely no choice because Vicki needed to go in the separated spot to heal her leg and not be isolated from Pecky.
I let Pecky and chicken out in the yard together and they had to hash it out that day because im done with separating Chicken. The had a good discussion...no blood this time but Pecky sure let her know whose boss. Chicken finally ran away from Pecky instead of challenging her! That was the turning point. I let them both go in and out of the coop...left all the doors open so Chicken could run for her life if she had to. Chicken wanted to check out the whole place so Pecky was always right there because everything is Pecky's and what i also did was put stop pick all over Chicken to minimize to pecking on the face. By evening they seemed kind of ok. Calmer then earlier and Pecky even let Chicken up on the perch! I closed the doors and they survived for the meantime.
Then bedtime came and i figured well, better try to get her in the coop for the night too and see how THAT goes. For Vicki i put some chicken wire up on one of the nesting boxes so that she could be in there at night too.
It was a bit stressful because Pecky has to be first for bedtime so i got her on the roost then Chicken got up there with a bit of commotion but not too bad. As soon as they were on the roost I shut the light off and closed the door. As soon as the lights go out they're done but i stood out there and listened for a bit. Nothing. It was good!
So that was last weekend. During this past week Vicki has been in the separate spot to heal her leg and she comes out for yard time. I think Pecky misses her because they stick together and she gets protective of Vicki when Chicken gets close to her.
Chicken still hasn't had words with Vicki yet because the day Chicken was integrated wast the day Vicki hurt her leg. Chicken will try to challenge Vicki at yard time but Vicki isn't strong enough for a fight so I'm always keeping Chicken away, but there's been times where Pecky will get between her and Vicki. I think this weekend i will finally get them all in the coop together...her leg seems better. I feel ok knowing Pecky will stand up for Vicki and she'll keep reminding Chicken whose boss. Every once in a while theres a reminder peck to keep Chicken in line but no blood and i still use stop pick once in a while just in case.
Its been a LONG journey and i almost felt defeat a couple times, but i think the key is patience and persistence!
