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

[doridg]

Hello

 

I never thought keeping hens could be so exhausting to cut a long story short hen keeper for 3 weeks one died(broke my heart) so got two new girls yesterday, they were in with my 3 older hens last night was up at 5 to check on them things kicked off when new girls wanted out sooooooo been reserching and watching ever since, old girls free ranging at the mo new girls still in coop dont think they have eaten or drank much since yesterday, ill let them all sleep together again tonight and be up at dawn to hope they get on better after a day spent looking at each other. begin to wish Id stuck with 3 they are only babies themselfs so shocked how mean they can be, hope I can be strong in the morn and not jump in to quick only Im not sure how much aggression is normal and people say it sounds and looks worse than it is but I would never forgive myself if someone got hurt sorry to go on but im soooo stressed.x

[katieD]

its as bad as having children!

 

they say to let them get on with it unless things get nasty and blood is drawn, although difficult to watch

 

good luck and get an early night!

[doridg]

thankyou im off to bed in a mo.xx

[jackieb]

I'm in the process of introducing 2 new ex-batts to my 4 old ex=batts at the moment and its been hell!! Poor Daisy has a bald head that she didn't have when she arrived, the new girls are so frightened that I can't go in the run without them sitting on my feet. Saying that, tonight was a bit more calm when I went in but they have been in together for a week now and the progress has been so slow, they had a week prior to that in the main run but in a separate area where they could see each other but not touch.

 

I don't know what I'll do whenever we need to add more, it's just too stressful to watch.

[Plum]

I haven't had experience myself but from what I have read on here it seems the sucessful introductions are taken slowly over several weeks. There are some good topics in the FAQ section over how you can do this.

 

Good luck

[chick wiggle]

Introductions can be stressful, when I did it , i did very very slowly. The new girls were kept in their own little area for a week, but the old and new could still see each other, and then we did limited, supervised, mixed free ranging for very short periods gradually building the time up. We also sat with a plant sprayer bottle to give any aggresive chooks a good squirt which stops them in their tracks. Read the section in FAQs it is very helpful. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[doridg]

Hi

 

Today has been much better the to new girls have spent the day with the old 3 they have been chased around a bit had a few pecks and lost a few feathers but nothing to drastic, the old 3 are free ranging at the mo but I have not let the 2 new ones out as they have only spent 2 nights in the coop and might not go to bed so they are in the large run having some peace, ill let them free range tomorr, so not to bad a day, im not getting up at 5 tomorr as I think the worst is over Ill leave the door to the coop open so they can escape if they need to early in the morn. I live in shooting country with game keepers phesents etc dont think we have tomany foxes around and the run is covered so should be ok, thanks for all your help. x