What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[Plum]

Advice please. I (think) have a small hen house I can use for introductions.

 

Two options, do I

1.Put it in the extension to the cube run and make a partition. I can arrange another access door for my oldies.

or

2. Make a run to attach to the house and have it a few feet away from the cube as a seperate unit. The run will be a pain to make as it's on a slope but I can do it.

 

Which would make introductions less stressful for my girls?

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I think I would put it in the run. That way, they are closer to each other and it may speed up the "getting to know you" process .

 

Having said that, I had that setup and Maisie is STILL picking on the newbies 5 weeks later . It seems to me like a nasty bully streak rather than pecking order behaviour .

[xScrunchee]

I have the exact same problem with Jasmine. She is without doubt a nasty bully and it really has nothing to do with pecking order.

 

I have now got two of the oldies and the three newbies in the WIR together during the day (still sleeping seperately) and I have put Jas in the introduction run by herself.

 

The two oldies are getting on fine with the new ones with only the occassional chasing but when Jasmine gets near them she goes for a full on attack

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hmm, maybe that's what I should do . I might leave Maisie freeranging and shut the two nice girls in with the babies .

 

Would it be really mean to put her in the cat carrier and the rest in the eglu at bedtime ?

[poachedegg]

Would it be really mean to put her in the cat carrier and the rest in the eglu at bedtime ?

 

Not at all...when we had a bully we isolated her for a week and it did the trick, so definitely worth a try.