[Alby]

My integration of my 2 rescue girls with my 7 established Marans seems to have failed . They have been together over a week and the Marans seem to be preventing them frrom eating and drinking, they have stopped laying ( one a day as was ) and are always found hiding behind anything they can squeeze into.

         They also look tired and withdrawn until we join them and make sure they eat, drink and have some bully free time.

         QUESTION :-   I am collecting 3 more rescue birds this week, would  it be better to put all the rescue birds together to include my present 2 ?  I have just completed the new hen house and can accomodate both sets with thier own house and run.
         Or do I let the 2 girls continue to intergrate with the Marans ?

         Alby  

[Aunt Sally]

I think it can take a lot longer to integrate old and new hens.  3 weeks would not be out of the question. 

I think it's best to allow them to see each other during the day but to be separated in different areas, each with their own food and water so that the new girls don't get starved by the old ones chasing them away from the food intil the get along together.

[sandra d]

Alby, I`ve had mine for seven weeks now. They`ve been seeing each other through the wire all of that time and every week I try them together and every week they try to kill each other. They even try to fight through the wire. I think I may give up, At least until they have all of their feathers.

[Jane-M]

I use my broody coop and its enclosed run for new hens, it sits inside the big hen run. It only houses 3 birds and has no perch but it's better than being bullied! Last lot I kept in for a full week and then opened the run door during the day. By the end of week three they had abandoned their temporary quarters and were sleeping in the big house, but it was probably another 2-3 weeks before they were allowed to eat at the same time as the older girls, although could eat freely if they waited in the queue. Using the same method with last week's new ones, although one of them made a bid for freedom on Saturday and slept in the big house I have her back in seclusion just to be on the safe side.

[woodburner]

Alby, I`ve had mine for seven weeks now. They`ve been seeing each other through the wire all of that time and every week I try them together and every week they try to kill each other. They even try to fight through the wire. I think I may give up, At least until they have all of their feathers.

I wouldn't even think about trying to integrate them until they were back in full health and feather again!* Chickens can be brutal when they see weakness or injury.





Not that I would dream of helping out a battery farmer, by taking his 'spent' hens off his hands. 

[andreadon]

It took ours a very very long time to integrate.

We made a little run inside the run and they had their own house as well, because they couldn't go together even at night.
we used to let them all out into the garden and made sure that there were a couple of different feeding tubs around, so that they could all eat without fighting.
We had to be around them all the time and often we would have to intervene when one went after the other.
We even had a circle of chicken wire that we would put the newbies in when they were out in the garden, but if the originals tried any thing on, the newbies would get the garden and the originals would be put in the circle as punishment!

It'll happen eventually, it just takes a bit of imaginative separation.

I think ours took about 3 months before they were fully integrated.

[Alby]

Thanks Folks,
                     Seperate House and Run it is.

         Alby

[sandra d]

Not that I would dream of helping out a battery farmer, by taking his 'spent' hens off his hands.

Strange. I thought I was helping out the hens and as I`m getting three eggs a day from three hens, they don`t seem very spent.

[woodburner]

Not that I would dream of helping out a battery farmer, by taking his 'spent' hens off his hands.

Strange. I thought I was helping out the hens and as I`m getting three eggs a day from three hens, they don`t seem very spent.

I'd rather not help the farmer make space for another thousand internees.
They are only 'spent' by the farmers' (if you can call them that) standards. That's why I used the ''s.

[andreadon]

Not that I would dream of helping out a battery farmer, by taking his 'spent' hens off his hands.

Strange. I thought I was helping out the hens and as I`m getting three eggs a day from three hens, they don`t seem very spent.

I'd rather not help the farmer make space for another thousand internees.
They are only 'spent' by the farmers' (if you can call them that) standards. That's why I used the ''s.

As has been debated many times.

I like to think of it as a retirement home for poor chickens who would otherwise become pet food.

[Alby]

Well, call them what you want , they are lovely little things and Im getting lots more "spent" hens  in the future 

   Great little egg producer also, was getting eggs every day till this post

 Alby