4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[sootem]

This topic must have been covered before and I have read the article by omlet. However, yesterday I brought home 7 new girls - yes I was impetuous and couldn't resist and OH was not happy. We already have 6 girls!

 

Anyway, I now have two hen houses - one a cube and a wooden one. The old girls are now in the wooden house and the new ones in the cube with two metre run. Both are situated in a fenced in run for free ranging - about 60 feet by 18 feet so there is plenty of room. However the old girls are really cross and won't go anywhere near the new girls - and there's lots of shouting. Help how do I integrate them. It sounds like world war three out there!

 

HELP!

[rufusrooster]

as there in seperate houses should be no problems at bed time and if the runs big enough i think you may just have to let them get on with it, i'm sure they will sort themselves out soon enough.

 

of course i'm new to this game so what do i know ? i'm struggling at the moment introducing a Columbine to my existing 2 hybrids in an eglu & run,

pretty much ok freeranging after the 1st day and in the eglu on a night once she gets the courage up to join the other 2 once thay have settled down, but if there in the run together its murder,

 

ive had to get up early last 2 mornings and let the Columbine out to freerange all day and keep the other 2 in the run as normal till mid/late afternoon. dont know what to do next really ?

[katieD]

god im really dreading introducing some new ones after reading all the issues on the forum

 

ive got a little bantam cockrel 14 weeks that i have just started freeranging with my 3 girls and its proving a nightmare- we are going to rehome him anyway with him being a boy (we resuced him as a chick) but i thought it would be nice for him to freerange with the others- maybe not

 

a question: when introducing are you best to keep seperate in the day then let them go into the cube together at night? im a bit confused!

 

thanks and good luck x

[rufusrooster]

god im really dreading introducing some new ones after reading all the issues on the forum

 

ive got a little bantam cockrel 14 weeks that i have just started freeranging with my 3 girls and its proving a nightmare- we are going to rehome him anyway with him being a boy (we resuced him as a chick) but i thought it would be nice for him to freerange with the others- maybe not

 

a question: when introducing are you best to keep seperate in the day then let them go into the cube together at night? im a bit confused!

 

thanks and good luck x

 

we got Sandy saturday afternoon and the 2 hybrids attacked her at every oportunity whilst freeranging, she just hung about near us on the patio at the end of tha garden for protection, yesterday was a differnt story altogether, apart from the odd incident they tended to leave her alone unless they came into close contact,

 

i think they will be fine now freeranging, the problem ive got is keeping them in the run together, just doesnt seeem an option at the moment,

do i just let them peck her to bits till they sort there differences out ? will they ever sort them out, i'm terrified she gets badly hurt or worse

[Chickendoodle]

Hi

 

we have had out 3 new girls for a month now and they are just starting to integrate with the 4 existing ones - it definitely is a long process and you have to be patient.

 

Our chief chicken, Dolly spent all of the first day moaning - it was quite funny really as it sounded like an old lady muttering under her breath. We kept them apart for 5 days, in the same area but the new girls shut in the Eglu run so that the old girls could see but not touch. Old girls were NOT happy that they had intruders. We took the advice on here of sprinkling corn around the run so that the old girls did not think the new ones were a threat food wise.

 

Let them out together after 5 days for about an hour at a time, supervised with hose pipe at the ready and continued supervising for a week or so. There was quite a lot of oneupmanship which was quite hard to watch but no blood was drawn and in the end we only had to pick up the hose for it to stop (who said chickens were stupid!)

 

We are now in week 4. We still separate them at night into the Eglu and Cube as can't see the point in rushing them when it is working so well. When they free range now they are not so much in the 2 separate groups, they are starting to look like one flock rather than two. There is still a bit of showing who's boss although I dont think they really know who is boss any more and I can see in another couple of weeks they will have forgotten who is who.

 

We were advised by the breeder to put them together at night (taking the new ones out of bed and putting them in with the old ones) as they dont care at night. We havent done this yet as we have the cube and the eglu and they can do it in their own time.

 

Hope this helps - patience is the answer!

[katieD]

why dont you try seperating the run like in another thread- she used canes to create a barrier. worth a try maybe?

 

have you got the standard run? might be worth adding more runs to make the space bigger- then just leave them to it?, suppose the prob with the eglu run is you cant get in there to pull them apart if need be

[quickcluck]

If you have room I'd put netting across the run to separate them. This way they can see each other without the problems of fighting, Chickens are really NOT nice creatures when it comes to new house mates.

 

I'd put a barrier up and make sure that you feed and give treats at the same time on either side of the barrier so they can see each other.

 

After a few weeks you can let them free range together under supervision for a limited amount of time...... then they may like to sleep together but separate them in the mornings, then eventually you can take the netting down..

 

My last lot of intros took just over 5 weeks armed with several water pistols and a hose!!! But they will all live happily, but dont rush it, it's very stressful....

[rufusrooster]

im going to try deviding the run with bamboo canes during the day, theyve been freeranging together again today and its not a problem, still the odd incident but with an area of approx 8m x 15m for 3 hens she has plenty of room to get out of the way. sleeping arrangements ok as well,

things have certainly improved a great deal in only 2 + 1/2 days, in fact i am now considering getting the run extension so i can get another hen in 4/5 weeks,

 

thanks.

 

ps, sorry Sootem, i seem to have hijacked your thread a bit

[quickcluck]

Sorry rufusrooster, but I dont think anyone would advise adding in a single hen so you'll have to get 2 or 3

[rufusrooster]

Sorry rufusrooster, but I dont think anyone would advise adding in a single hen so you'll have to get 2 or 3

 

not an option at the moment if afraid,

[Egluntyne]

If you follow the advice in ** these articles** you won't go far wrong. Taking it slowly is the least traumatic way.