[vichope74]

Hello, on Monday I added two marans to my existing 3 warrens.  I keep them separate during the day - warrens free ranging and marans in enclosed run where other hens cab see them, then they all go in to the coop at night and this is working fine.  On Thursday I decided to start letting them mix.  As expected there was some serious pecking and this keeps resulting in the 2 younger marans hiding in the nesting box of the coop and not coming back out unless I eject them and then the process is repeated.

What do I do now?  Do I keep lifting them back out occassionally, or do I not get involved?  How long does it normally take to resolve?

Many Thanks. V.

[joyfull]

leave them together - the pecking order process can take several weeks (you have afterall introduced two new intruders into the warrens place). Keep the purple spray to hand to help disguise any blood and possibly ukadex or anti peck spray. It is nasty to watch but it is just their way I'm afraid. Make sure you have several feeders, drinkers and hiding places and eventually a truce will happen 

[chickadee]

i know i have posted this reply to another member but it is relavent as i introduced newbies about a month ago ~

about a month ago i was left with margo a 2 year old warren from my original trio. I decided to get 3 more ( have an eglu with run and extension and free range area )
So i went to the domestic fowl trust and chose 3 more pol - a whitestar mabel, a speckledy douce and cream legbar velma.
I popped the 3 new girls in the eglu at night after margo had gone to bed ~ in the morning they all charged out. Margo pecked at Mabel and instantly got a peck back.
They became instant friends but margo picked on velma and douce,  pecking but not drawing blood.
Over the next week i locked velma and douce in the eglu run to give them some respite for part of the day. By week two the pecking started to decline and velma and douce learned to avoid margo or run very fast.
By week three they began to mingle as a foursome with little pecking or chasing and now only douce gets the occasional warning peck when i throw in corn or fresh greens from margo. I made sure i had extra feeders and water as most of the fights seemed to be about food and it did help being able to seperate them at their peak.
They are all laying now and i get four different coloured eggs including blue/green - i think it helps when they all come into lay as they seem to grow in confidence as they come of age. I was a little worried about introducing newbies but to see them all tootling around together is wonderful - good luck

[vichope74]

Thanks so much.  I had read lots of other people's posts ages ago about this but it takes a bit of getting used to when it's your own, normally friendly chickens that are doing it!  Thankfully the marans are good at getting up on the run etc where the warrens can't reach.