bouldercroft Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 I'm picking up my new girls tomorrow (silver laced polish , salmon faverolle and an ameraucana) to my existing girls (black star & plymouth rock bantam) I've read all the posts and I think I'm prepared... My plan is to put the new girls in my spare and run and move it closer to my WIR so everyone can see everyone. It's a long weekend so I'll be home Sat/Sun/Mon to keep an eye on things - any other advice? Anything special about introducing girls of this age? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malkalv Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I have heard of people keeping them seperate and letting them free range together. I am very curious how this works for you. I just introduced 2 new hens to my 2 existing ones just this Monday. I just put them into the (freshly scrubbed down) coop at night so they wake up together. They pecked for 4 days but now there is a begruding acceptance and only a peck or two here and there. As long as the girls are about the same size, I wouldn't be too concerned. The older ones will come out on top of the pecking order and normal life will be restored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodinparts Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 I've done 2 intro's now...in both cases teh newbies started off in the , while the original girls were able to FR around them and take a good look. We did this for a week to 10 days - then let them all FR together. My PLAN was that the hybrids would continue to live in the and the 2 new sets of bantams in the but after a couple of days of FR together they ALL choose to go to bed in the cube - except for poor Hope, the lemon pekin, who takes herself off to the all alone every evening. I then pick her up and pop her in with the others when I shut them all up for the night - and she emerges in apparent good heart in the morning. All fine except that it means that I'm not sure WHERE to put the faverolles who will be coming this way later in the summer...because if THEY started to try and crowd into the cube together with 3 hybrids and 4 bantams the whole thing would be very silly.... In other words, be prepared for the chooks to sort themselves out in ways that you weren't expecting and may not even actually want that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Some advice *here*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 except for poor Hope, the lemon pekin, who takes herself off to the all alone every evening. Aww I feel sorry for Hope! Do they bully her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouldercroft Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Well, I tried the 'throw them in approach' and it was brutal...utterly brutal. So the new girls are in the spare and run facing the WIR so everyone can get used to looking and smelling each other. It was worth a try...and it failed... So I'm back on the softly softly approach.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodinparts Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 Aww I feel sorry for Hope! Do they bully her? No bullying at all, that I can see. She just seems to prefer to range at a distance from the flock - she is probably the bottom of the pecking order but "Ooops, word censored!"ody seems to be unduly nasty to her, she gets a look in with treats & is allowed to eat and drink...Am beginning to think she might just be a solitary soul. Last night I put Charity, her original run-mate, in the with her at bedtime but as soon as they were all let out, Charity went off to talk to the Belgians and Hope pootled off in the opposite direction. Maybe she hasn't read the bit about chickens being "flock animals". Makes it hard to know what to do when I'll need the as an intro pen later in the summer....If ALL the bantams had stuck to it, I would have borrowed something for the faverolles and hoped to integrate them with the hybrids in time, but as it is I'm really not sure what to do for the best. It feels a bit nutty to borrow an intro coop when there is just one small pekin occupying the with extended run...I guess I COULD shut her out of the but that feels a bit mean if it's honestly where she would prefer to be Decisions, decisions.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouldercroft Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 I let the girls free-range together today while I observed armed with a water pistol - who knew I would end up being the united nations peace keeping force. It went very well - a few pecks but nothing as vicious as I saw on Friday. Poor Lola gets very confused (probably due to her lack of vision) and kept forgetting who she was hanging out with until Korma reminded her with a peck! I'll try this every night this week with a view to moving them into the WIR at the weekend.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevf1 Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 i introduced 6 less than 30 weeks olds to 2, 2 years olds.. all togehter same new WIR .. bit of fighting still is a little now.. once thje old birds got used to it they were ok.. but looking at getting another 3 guess it wont be as easy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouldercroft Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 Everyone is now in the WIR and I've moved the second eglu over too so there's no easily going back now... The new girls were getting a few pecks but still got to the food, water, perches and had a good scratch about so I'm declaring a victory! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Good news did they all sleep together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouldercroft Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Korma and Josie slept with Rita which is not what I was predicting...these birds are always surprising me Lola and Mavis tried to spend the night on the perch in the WIR but I moved them into an eglu as it was a little chilly last night and this morning I had 3 eggs in 1 nest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 They're doing really well. Good girls giving you those eggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouldercroft Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 Easter dinner was interrupted by hubby dashing outside to sort Lola and Josie out. Josie (the littlest biggest bully) had Lola pinned to the ground with one foot while she pecked at her head feathers. I couldn't figure out what the biggest surprise was - Hubby ("they are not my chickens") running to the rescue or Lola thinking that silly little Josie was a rooster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
