Hens not being accepted into flock

Nome89 · Post by **Nome89** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:07 am

Hey everyone!
I have an odd problem.... I have two younger hens that should start laying shortly and every time I try and incorporate them into my flock they get the crap picked out of them. I have never had this trouble before with my hens and I've tried three times. I've tried keeping them in a cage in the hen house and everything. I have them for sale at this point.
Any ideas?

Post by **thegawd** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:53 am

let them work it out. of course this only works if they are not completely penned and have a route of escape and places to hide. any of my birds can jump the fence if they need to. also introduce them at night. and put them on the roost without light and walk away. I introduced 3 bantam chanteclars to my flock yesterday during the day and it went very well. of course these birds can fly like lightening and escape whatever they need to but didnt need to and they were on the roost at night. theres lots of room and space in my run/coop so theres lot of space for everyone.

there will always be a battle when introducing new birds into the coop, they are establishing the pecking order and cant really be avoided. I only intervene if I think they are really going to kill each other. usually after a good fight they are done fighting forever and will get along just fine. also if I believe a bird needs to be removed to prevent a death I will think long and hard about who I want more and go from there.

this may not be what everyone does but I let the birds work it out and only after a quarantine period.

Post by **thegawd** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:03 pm

one other thing... what breed of birds are you trying to introduce them to? when I had red sexlinks I couldnt hardly get anything introduced in with them. they were very aggresive and only there offspring that they hatched would be accepted into the flock.

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 12:19 pm

I'm with Al

Free range them and let them sort it out. Pecking order is inevitable .. it's gonna happen.

Good luck!

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:23 pm

I agree, I find for some reason if I put them in when its dark and they wake up all together, far less bickering.

Nome89 · Post by **Nome89** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 7:31 am

Thanks guys. I've tried adding them at night with the same result but I don't have anywhere for them to hide. I will try and make a spot and see if that works.
My flock is mostly bantam Brahmas but there are a couple sexlinks, barred rock and EE. I have had to remove the young ones because they are usually bleeding out their back and have no feathers left. I have also removed my rooster thinking it was him, he suffers from little man syndrome and gets a little aggressive with the girls, but it wasn't him.
I generally let them sort it out on their own but I've had to intervene with them bleeding... you all know what happens when they see something red. These hens have no fight in them and wont stick up to anyone.. so obviously they will be on the bottom of the order. Ill try them again with a hiding spot when they get their feathers back and heal up a bit.

ross · Post by **ross** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:21 am

Need more than one spot to hide/escape from aggressive cell mates. Luck

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:57 am

I am sorry I don't have any additional wisdom to add, but observing my flock of 16 Wyandotte hens of 4, 3, 2, and 1 year old, although they live more or less peacefully together, Wyandottes being a pretty laid back breed, I see an occasional skirmish/ downright nastiness, and it's always different year hens, never the hatch mates,
so although frankly if they weren't banded I couldn't tell them apart, they apparently remember forever (how ever long that may be)
who the interlopers are.
Although pecking order is social system in chickendom, sometime the line has been crossed and either the perpetrator of the victim has to be removed, once blood is drawn, sooner or later it's game over.

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:43 am

I have to agree with OC. I have a very small flock and one girl that gets picked on badly. It's rare for it to lead to blood shed and I do a lot to accomodate her "special needs" but regardless of who gets separated for how long the offender's and the victim remember. The offender's just have to look at her and she starts panicking which instigates chasing...It's a never ending circle. Most days the nervous one spends alone with her own food, water and dust bath and she is perfectly content. If she wasn't so old I would try to find her a happier home but I'm pretty convinced that would be impossible. In my case it's 2 barred rocks that pick on another of same breed. If you have them in your flock it wouldn't surprise me that they are your mean girls. I've learned that sometimes the damage is done and the best thing is to pick who's staying and rehome who you need to.

Nome89 · Post by **Nome89** » Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:36 pm

I have mostly Brahma hens and that is what these to are but I dont think it is them that is picking on them. I originally thought it was my Columbia Rock X but I removed her when I added them and turns out it wasn't her.. whoopse. Although I am positive she is part of the gang that get them.
I have never had this much trouble when adding hens. The last hen I added was an EE and there were no issues whatsoever. Last time I had to remove them they had no feathers left on their backs and bleeding and their leg feathers were picked and bleeding. I feel bad for them. Maybe they are just to young yet? They were hatched around Thanksgiving (making them 19 weeks)