[SurreyLass]

Girls all went to bed a 7.30, and tonight was the night - we were moving our 2 POL's which we have had for 2 1/2 weeks into the main coop and run with my 2 existing girls.

Went out at 8.30, opened the little ark, and they were both till awake - should have shut them up and walked away, but I didnt. Got one out, to much sqwarking, and popped her into the house. Went back to get the other and she freaked, and managed to fly out of the ark and hot foot it around the very dark, unfenced, unsafe garden ....... we managed to edge her into the main run, and shut the run door, and opened the coop door........

Now, all 4 chickens are facing off in the run - the one successful transfer has come down, followed by my 2 original girls, and its all going on out there. Dont know what to do, feel so terrible, I must be such a rubbish chicken-keeper, and I thought I was doing so well. They have been next to each other all this time, so arent total strangers.

Any ideas, before I spend the night out there?

[henamoured]

Take your 2 oldies out, put the newbies on the perch. Wait 10 mins for newbies to settle then quietly slip oldies in too. Good luck! 

[SurreyLass]

I cant get to them - the run is low, and they are in the run. 1 big girl and 1 little girl in bed (for how long I dont know) and the other big girl and little girl still messing about ....... I have been so looking forward to getting them together, and now I have messed it up.

[francais]

TBH - I have tried lots of different times of day / night to introduce new birds and they always face off and bicker (in some cases quite rough!) but I bet by morning they will be fine.

You will proberbly notice some pecks being dished out by the higher ladies, but after about 2 days this should mostly stop.

I know some can turn nasty, but in what I have witnessed it there is no serious lasting damage if you let it take it's course.

Best of luck and try not to worry.

[henamoured]

You could try putting a torch into the coop, that usually gets the inquisitive little so and so's in!
Don't be too hard on yourself - sounds like you've done all you could really.

[SurreyLass]

I just want them all tucked up for the night.

Feel so awful for messing it up.
Now have 2 in bed (1 old and 1 new) 1 up and down (old) and one freaked and confused (new) who hasnt made any attempt to get up to bed.

All of a sudden the garden bench is seeming quite a good place to spend the night.

[newChickenMummy]

Oh no don't blame yourself its not your fault. We had the same problem a little while ago and it was a complete nightmare, introducing new chooks to each other is difficult and it took a long time before the fighting stopped. Nothing we did made any difference, they will do what they like whatever you try and do, little monkeys!

Can you try to coax them using food? Some sweetcorn or grain? If you really can't get them in I would think they will eventually go in on their own. Is the run foxproof if the worst comes to it and they sleep outside?

[francais]

is the run secure? ie if the newbies spent the night outside in the run is it fox proof etc?

I had one new wyndotte who spent several nights last winter sleeping on top of the hen house (the run is totally secure!)  Her nights outside caused no ill effect and she's now quite happy in the group.

[SurreyLass]

Whilst I think its secure, I dont think its TOTALLY fox proof, and we have lots of foxes here.

Boss chicken is trying to round her up I think - judging by what I can see.
Old girl 1 and new girl 1 have stayed upstairs in bed, so I am hoping boss chicken can sort out getting new girl 2 up - I dont think she's bullying her, she seems to be trying to coax her up .........

[Lindeggs]

For a start, you did nothing wrong!  There is no 'perfect' way to introduce new chickens to each other and I can guarantee there are much more experienced people than you who have had this happen.

I've seen a lot of your posts and questions recently and I can see you're taking this chicken-keeping thing very seriously and doing your absolute best for your girls.  You should congratulate yourself, not beat yourself up!

The main thing now is for you to stop fretting and get some sleep.  There is nothing more you can do tonight - it's up to them now.  It will get dark and they will settle down (in the coop or run is up to them).  It may be good to have the run available in the morning when they start up their ruckus again at first light. 

If you have to go to work in the morning do you have some distractions you can scatter in the run?  Just their usual food scattered on the ground may be enough to keep them out of each others' hair for a while.

[SurreyLass]

OK, glass of wine drunk, 3 chickens (2 old and 1 new) in bed asleep, rogue chicken now in cat box, waiting for her to go to sleep, then she is joining the others - I will get this right tonight! I would really rather that we start a new day with them all coming out of the house and trip-trapping down that ladder, and we face tommorrow's challenges afresh, rather than giving her a night in the cat box and starting all over again in the morning! Husband has got a big presentation tommorrow which he is now a couple of hours behind prepping for, so no early night is to be had anyhow, so we are going to tough this one out - how long do we leave her to get to sleep?

[SurreyLass]

Thanks Lindeggs - it was a good glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc!

I dont work, and apart from school runs, I have kept tommorrow free so that I can be here to keep an eye from a distance - hence why we wanted to move them tonight, as I can be home all day tommorrow.

To be hones, boss hen wasnt too brutal, I would have been much more harsh is someone had gatecrashed my home and was stopping me going back to bed and not doing what they were told.

Will report back once I have drunk another glass of wine and gone and done the transfer from the cat box!

[SurreyLass]

Okay, chicken spent the night in the cat box as we couldnt do the transfer without stressing us and her out a lot more. Let the 3 out this morning and then popped cat box chicken straight into the house.

There is an awful lot of scrapping going on, poor little girls are getting it big style. Interestingly most of it is coming from Chicken No. 2 (Henriettta) rather than boss chicken (Milly), though Milly is chucking herself about sometimes too!

Its all so stressful - I dont think I will be doing this again!

Am planning a day on the garden bench with lots of cups of tea and a water pistol!

[lazydog]

I understand how stressful this is but the best I found was be cruel to be kind and dont watch!Just nip out every hour or so and check,we can see ours from the kitchen and when we have had to introduce newcomers have found the more you interfere the longer it takes to establish the pecking order,we still get it now if a broody returns then there is a cafufle (sp)and a new boss hen comes out on top.As long as there is no blood drawn and they can get food and water all will be fine,keep the purple stuff handy just in case but to be honest in the last 3 yrs we haven't had to use it.
Good luck and enjoy the tranquillity when it does return!  

[dinosaw]

I can understand your worries it can be very distressing to watch them attacking each other but remember it often looks a lot worse to us than it actually is, provided no blood is being drawn and your older chickens arent actually pinning the newbies down and plucking them I wouldn't worry too much its all part of establishing the pecking order, the key really is that your newbies have enough space to escape. The other thing to keep an eye on is that your new hens are getting to feed. When we introduced two to our existing couple earlier this summer they were constantly getting chased off the feeders, in fact our older hens would guard a feeder each so we put in a third feeder and drinker until they settled down. With regards to bedtime i found that the best approach for the first few days was to wait for the older two to go into the coop, then shut the pophole to let them settle for a while and then physically place the new hens into the coop and quickly close the pophole, they may get the odd peck but once in the dark they will soon roost, within a few days you can leave them to it. The important thing is to be up early enough to let them out so that they arent confined together in the morning with nowhere to run to. Funnily enough we said we would never introduce new hens again after our first time introducing two to our existing two but here we are introducing a further two to our flock of four. As far as I can see you didn't do much wrong you simply had bad luck with the escapee mucking things up for you, don't give yourself a hard time about it, chickens are a law unto themselves.