[arrowni]

As things stand I have 2 pekin hens and a rooster, 2 sebrights and 3 laying hens and a duck. I have let all my birds see eachother through wire as they are all kept seperate. When I introduced the sebrights to the pekins they jsut got pecked by the pekins. When I introduced the pekins to the 3 hens and duck one of the hens caught the rooster after he attacked her and she tried to pull him through the fence, the other 2 hens then piled in trying to get at my rooster and they tried to squash my pekins by trampling on them.

The only bit of luck I have had is with the sebrights and the 3 hens and duck although the hens do peck the sebrights when they get near them. Concerning the hens and duck they were raised together and the duck follows one of the hens in particular everywhere. I always though hens didn't like the rain, yet these 3 stay out in the rain with the duck when they could easily all go in to the sheltered part of the pen.

Any advice would be appreciated or would I be better keeping them seperate as they are, although I do leave the sebrights out with the 3 hens and duck quite often.

[lucylou]

hi there arrowni
how long have your birds been gettig to know each other? im afraid i cant give any advice but you will get some off someone soon i am sure, i can only say that when i introduced my new hens i was really concerned to begin with as one of them was getting picked on but after a couple of weeks she is now totally part of their group and i was only looking at her today and thinking how much she has changed and become confident and cheeky. i know that there is often teething (or should i say pecking) problems when introducing new birds so there is plenty of advice out there! good luck with it all, lucylou 

[iwantanallotment]

wow arrowni, it's hard enough introducing two sets of strangers, let alone three!

But good news about the sebrights, layers and duck 

Now you just have to introduce the pekins, but maybe they've all been overloaded with all this "invaders/strangers" lark for a bit?

I'd keep the pekins separate but visible, and introduce once the current new gang is settled. Maybe it was just a bit too much too soon? The pekins may well not be accepted, as the gang is now bigger and established but wary.
You may have to resign yourself to keeping 2 separate flocks if it doesn't work out.

A word of warning re the duck - my friend had a solitary duck that followed his few chooks everywhere. One day the duck turned, attacked them, and attacked them every time they were re-introduced afterwards. He also killed a pet rabbit.

I'm pretty sure it's advised that ducks should be in at least a pair, with at least one of their own kind?

Most of my friend's pets are weird though, so maybe it's just him & not the birds 

All the best.

[Lydia-Maria]

Do you have a hen house big enough for all your poultry to live together?
I would suggest getting another duck,your's may think he/she is a chicken,so another duck should be great.
As regards your hens and bantams,you need to put them all in their house on their perches when it is dark,spray them gently with diluted vinegar so when they wake up they all smell the same.For some reason this works really well.
Maybe keep the hens and bantams apart until you've got another duck,but then give it a go.
Apparently,when they wake up and all smell the same,they assume they have are all the same members of the flock.
good luck,and let us know how it works out.

[arrowni]

Do you have a hen house big enough for all your poultry to live together?
I would suggest getting another duck,your's may think he/she is a chicken,so another duck should be great.
As regards your hens and bantams,you need to put them all in their house on their perches when it is dark,spray them gently with diluted vinegar so when they wake up they all smell the same.For some reason this works really well.
Maybe keep the hens and bantams apart until you've got another duck,but then give it a go.
Apparently,when they wake up and all smell the same,they assume they have are all the same members of the flock.
good luck,and let us know how it works out.

Thanks everyone for your replies, I will try to answer as many questions as possible. I am a complete amatuer and if it wasnt for this site God only knows wht mistakes I would have made, so please excuse anything that I ask or say. BTW out of 4 neighbours 3 of us now keep birds, when 2 of my neighbours saw mine they wanted to start keeping them and they love it. One neighbour in particular said he wishes he had done this years ago. Anyway The birds have got to see eachother off and on for 3 or 4 weeks which is the length of time I have had the duck and 3 layers for. The sebrights were introduced to the pekins quite a while ago but the pekins just pecked and pecked them.

The duck is an Aylesbury and although the pekins squared up to her/him she just hissed and put her beak towards them. How on earth did a duck kill a rabbit?? I honestly didnt think a duck would do any harm. :blink: I dont know the sex of the duck so does it matter what duck I get? I have a rabbit in the pen in a long run which is wired off so he cant get out but sometimes he does and the sebrights have gave him a peck or too, although today when he got out again they weren't bothering with him.

I have a pen about 17 ft wide and about 19 ft long, I have it split in 2 with the left side being about 8 ft wide. At the top of the left side I have a completely enclosed(wooden) section with a clear perspex roof for my pekins which is about 8ft wide and 5 or 6 ft long. The rest of the left side is where I now keep the sebrights and the layers and duck which has an extra extension added to give them more room. Again this is about 8 ft wide and about 12 ft long, which would make the left side about 31 ft or so. Apart from the pekins section the 2 sides are divided with wire and it would be the right side that the pekins goto when I let them out. The rabbit is also on the right side. When I get a chance I will take some pics which should give a clearer picture.

I had a small run for the sebrights which they were ususally kept in adjoining theire house, but lately I just let them out and they come and go as they please. Rather than put them into their house at night I just leave them out in the secured pen. One sleeps ontop of the hen/duck roof which is a large wooden dog kennel and the other sits ontop of their wee run. This is where they settle when I come up to check on them all.

Now and again I remove a divide I have which splits the left side from the right and the layers, duck and sebrights can have the whole area to themselves.

I am still in the process of sorting out the whole pen and getting it tidied up a bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Lydia-Maria]

Wow,your chicken coop sounds bigger than my little house......maybe I could move in as well  .
Definitely big enough then.

[arrowni]

Just an update of my post. The sebrights now eat alongside the hens and duck with hardly any problems, and they all are in the same part of the pen but sleep seperately. The sebrights usually settle down for the night ontop of the wee house I made for them, while the 3 hens and duck still go into the large dog house which I leave open.

There is just the odd peck from the hens but nowhere near what it was. I will post a few pics of my set up as soon as I get a chance.