[Andrew4613]

Hello and happy new year for tomorrow!!

Introduced two new warren pullets straight into the coop with the rest of the flock (4 other girls!) they slept well because I went down around midnight to check! Let them out this morning and the 4 original girls came out and half an hour later the two new ones emerged.

The 4 original girls have pecked the two new ones, but not overly aggressively and the original warren has jumped on one. Is this normal behaviour or might I have to seperate them?

Being a new keeper I have not seen them fight before or bully they charged each other and squared up when they originally sorted their pecking order.

Anyway many thanks

Here's hoping 2012 brings lots of eggs!!!

Andy

[joyfull]

this is perfectly normal, afterall they have discovered intruders in their home. Keep on hand with purple spray and wound powder (cornflour will do at a push but doesn't have the same antibacterial properties) just incase they are needed 

[chicken george25]

when i got my 3 origianl ladies and added my 2 newbies it took them 5 weeks to sort out the pecking order in this time there was lots of scraps between them feather pulling but no blood, if one does bleed you will need to seperate it from the other as it same effect with a bull and red cape they will just keep goin for her, but do make sure if u do seperate if the injured that she is close to the others and can still see and smell them this is very important

[VickyW]

I feel for you Andrew, I'm going through the exact same thing at the moment, I'm spending a lot of time on chicken watch which really ruins the time I should be ironing today  :blink:

I got some purple spray from a local equestrian shop, its about £4.50 and covered my coat in it today - Maybe a cotton bud or paint brush would be better.

I am slightly regretting the mix and I hope it doesn't take 5 weeks to merge. Good luck mate and HNY x

[Robbo]

hi to you all , this is my first post, I too have a problem, 4 chicks 11 month old good layers, seem healthy feeding o.k. all 4 are differant breeds and these are our first girls, I have one fully feathered hen a large grey "bluebell", the other three are in various stages of baldness, I suspect pecking , or bullying , after my first doubts we created two seperate entrances for them, then we bought a pecking spray, this has continued to get worse, it did improve a little in summer when we allowed the ladies free run of the late vegetable garden, perhaps they had more opportunity to escape the "bully"
 did not realise the size of my problem until I read the posts tonight, p.s all three have "bald bottoms" with littleor no tail feathers left
phew feel better, now to solve my poor chucks problem
Robbo

[kegs]

Welcome! 

How long have they been bald Robbo?  Have you checked and/or treated them for mites recently?  How big is their run and do they have anything in there to prevent boredom?

[sneezer]

Dont worry they will sort themselves out, it took ours about 2 weeks total, the first week I was thinking what have we done the original hen wouldn't even let them in the coop for first few days, all I can say is it is it was all worth it as now they are all fine

[Tony H]

Hi all yes its normal im atraid when i introjuse newbies i let them allout in the garden the older girls are that buisy scratching they leve the new chucks alone and they dont see the garden as there property  it doesnt stop the pecking but it helps  :blink:

[Andrew4613]

Dont worry they will sort themselves out, it took ours about 2 weeks total, the first week I was thinking what have we done the original hen wouldn't even let them in the coop for first few days, all I can say is it is it was all worth it as now they are all fine

I dont have a problem at night they sleep fine together - the 4 original girls won't let them out of the coop into the sheltered run section, they chase them back in with a peck!!!

Hope it sorts itself out soon, I haven't noticed any feathers being lost yet so hopefully the old girls are just putting them in their place!!

[Andrew4613]

Just an update....

The two girls are laying but the four original girls don't seem to let them out of the smallish sheltered run section with the food and water into the outside larger area. They are chased back inside, not really pecked just chased. Will this stop eventually and they'll be accepted in the flock?

[JaK]

Just an update....

The two girls are laying but the four original girls don't seem to let them out of the smallish sheltered run section with the food and water into the outside larger area. They are chased back inside, not really pecked just chased. Will this stop eventually and they'll be accepted in the flock?

Yes, in a couple of weeks time they will be fine and if not quite 'friends' they will tolerate each other.