[Hillview Farm]

I have four hens that were hatched this year, I've bought a new hen and cockerel who is showing no signs of cockerel behaviour yet (only 5 months old)

They have been away from the other birds for a week and wormed etc. Put them in runs next to each other and when I'm home I let them free range together. There is one hen who is really out to get them and really chases them all over the garden. The others will go up to them, 'square up' peek the new two who then run away and then they carry on. At night I put them all in together and they all go to sleep no fights but when I let them out into the run in the morning the new ones get cornered and beaten up.

I know the noises is the worse part and I've got to try ignore it to some point.

Is there anything else I can do?

[Victorian Farmer]

I don't won't to tell you that you're dooing things wrong but building a flok I hatch and put them all together then when the cock birds show cull or give them away then when you're happey ring the best hens .keep altogether then get 4 cock birds let them grow then keep the best 2 if eney think goes wrong you still have 1 remember the cock bird is half the stock .i build floks of 50 and 6 or 8 cock birds and this is haw I do it a bad hen I get rid happey stock .

[Clansman]

Hillview, they are just sorting out the pecking order.

Your original flock would already have had its own pecking order so sticking another couple of birds in means they will have to find their own place in it.

If they are kept in different pens then brought together occasionally it will start over again, best idea would be to keep it consistent, either keep them together or apart

I suspect a couple of days of them being together should see things settle down to normal again 

[Garvie]

when we add new birds we wait to everyone is in their bed and then put the new birds in the coop and when they get out in the morning there is very little squabbling, i think its cause they are all coming out together and must be like huh must of forgotten about them, works every time we do it

[JulieWall]

If we ever have to isolate a bird or more we put them as close to the original flock as possible so they stay familiar to each other. When they get out to free range again we leave them free to chose whether to return to the temporary house and run or go back to the original flock. It seems to work well for us as the hens will go back to the main hen house when they feel ready to and there is less agro. This also works for introducing new birds to the main flock.
If the bully is just one hen who is the ringleader I would put her in a separate place very close to the main flock so she can see them but not interact. The reason why is that every time you add or remove a bird the whole pecking order has to be re-established, they don't just move up or down a place as you might think. By removing the bully she is effectively demoted and when she goes back she will be the newbie. She will have to re-establish her own place and as an assertive bird I wouldn't be too concerned about her getting bullied herself. By then your new birds will be fully integrated too - in theory.
It might seem a bit too much of a faff but it's a method which works for us, there are bound to be lots of other good suggestions

[Hillview Farm]

Right, thank you for your replies.

The bully has been removed and put into the new birds pen. The new birds have been put into the arc with the original birds and there has been a few scuffs and they are now hiding in the house. I will put the bully back in at night and remove the following morning as I am not 100% that her pen is totally fox proof and do this for a few days and see what happens. Once the old hens and new are ok together i'll add the bully after her 'time out'



VF- Yes in an ideal world I would have done it this way, but I've got the correct number of birds now and I wouldn't be happy hatching eggs in nearly November plus I'm not a fan of having too many cockerels to 'deal' with.

[suziequeue]

I have to say - we put our new ones in at night and then leave them to sort it out.


There is one hen - "the bitch from Carter's Close" - who is a persistent bully and a right cow but it all settles down in the end and she looses interest after a while.

[in the hills]

I have read that it is best not to introduce a young cockerel too soon .... before he is ready to establish himself as head of the flock .... because if he is bullied he will possibly never have confidence to establish himself in his rightful position.    Not sure if this is true or not as most of our cockerels are hatched here and not bullied as such ..... kept separately until older.


Think really they should be in isolation for at least 3 weeks ..... know it's not always possible though.


I would let them all sleep together and if they are free range over a big enough area they will be able to escape the bully in the day and you shouldn't have real injuries. Do they have to go in the run first thing or can they go straight out to free range? As you know there will be a bit of "commotion" at first but if they aren't trapped in the run they should be okay. I would make sure there are a couple of feeders/drinkers to reduce stress on the new birds.

[lord flynn]

I have read that it is best not to introduce a young cockerel too soon .... before he is ready to establish himself as head of the flock .... because if he is bullied he will possibly never have confidence to establish himself in his rightful position.    Not sure if this is true or not as most of our cockerels are hatched here and not bullied as such ..... kept separately until older.

I've put cockerels in with hens when they've been 16 weeks or so-it actually seems to stop them crowing for a bit but they've all gone on to perform. Bit harsh on smaller/younger ones though IMO.
I quarantine everything for a month and then put them in. I've never found any advantage to putting them in at night, if anything it makes for a lot of noise in the morning!So I generally put them in in the morning and keep an eye/ear out. as long as everyone has plenty of room, they seem to sort themselves out pretty quickly. I have one cow of an araucana hen but putting a precocious cockerel in with her seems to have sorted her out.