Bullying

[Tcot74]

Hi pretty new to all this, we started off in January with 2 ex barns, a black Rock and a light Sussex. After enjoying their company and the by products we took the jump an got 2 buff orpingtons, had them segregated for a couple of days, but bedded them interest same house at night..
Integration went fairly well, and with the black Rock being #1 she had her go as well as the other girls for the pecking order, this settled down until one of the ex barns started running length of the run and jumping at the buffs, this happens regularly an as come to a point where the buffs now sit together in one corner. Any time they head up to join the others pip runs at them and sends them scurrying back into the corner.
The run is approx 20m square, London also corner they have taken too is where the girls took to nesting, any help would be appreciated, which have a 4y old daughter who has started to become distressed by it.

Thanks....

 

[Marigold]

Could you temporarily divide your run with netting, so the hens can see each other through the mesh but not come into contact? Put a spare set of feeder and drinker in with the Orps and make sure they have shade and shelter if it rains. (Old table or similar to go under, maybe?) If the newbies are not laying yet there will be no problem with them needing nestboxes, but if they are old enough to lay, provide a suitable box with bedding in a dark covered place. Try going on putting them in with the others in the coop at night, and if you can spray all the hens with something like lavender oil or vinegar so they all smell the same it will help them to accept the new ones in the coop. Watch carefully when they emerge in the morning, and if the orps are still being badly chased, put them in the separate part for another day, where they can see the older hens through the mesh.
An alternative approach might be to divide the run as before, but put the troublesome hen in the smaller section and leave the others to integrate so long as there is no serious trouble. Then Pip will not be able to affect the process and will eventually have to find her own new place in the pecking order, maybe a bit further down!
It's really handy to have a 'run divider kit' ready to use, so you can just roll it out when needed, as it quite often will be when keeping hens.

 

[Tcot74]

Thanks for help has divided again, and going to try vinegar before bed...
Got concerns that they have now started sneezing and one appears to have a cough.. Is there anything we could give to help them get better?

 

[Marigold]

Are they all sneezing/coughing, or is it just the new ones? If all of them, can you recall in which group the symptoms first showed up?
Many people try to quarantine new hens in a separate run for a couple of weeks at least before adding them to the resident flock, as the stress of moving home can depress their immune systems so they go down with latent infections, and these can be passed on to the older birds if they are together in the coop at night. However, if this is the case, there's not much you can do about it at this stage since they have all been together for a while now.

 

[Sue]

Perhaps members who have Orpingtons will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they are a very easy going, friendly, placid breed, so it may be more difficult to integrate them than say other Black Rocks. Do Orpingtons stand up for themselves or are they easily bullied I wonder?

 

[Tcot74]

@ marigold got it wrong as both orps look very similar, it is just the one who is sneezing, has a rattle too and cough unsure which started first, I've read it could be down to stress, could this be the case even now after nearly a week?
Others are not showing signs of anything... And yes they are very docile and seem very relaxed to the others, Sarah (my partner) fell in love with them straight away as well as my daughter

 

[Chuck]

The new birds have been subjected to two stressers, the first, moving to a new home and the second is being bullied and attacked from a great distance which is something they will never have encountered in an existing flock. There may well be a case for saying Orpingtons are easy going as they have had the athleticism and laying power bred out of them for many years as they have become more fancy than functional. Any new birds introduced into an existing flock will be subject to attack and the established birds usually have the upper hand.
Many coughs and sneezes clear up on their own but you may be persuaded to get some antibiotics for them by others.

 

[Tcot74]

Update...

Had a friend with a little more experience with hens look at her, he seems to think it's gape worm... So we treating her and the others to see if improves, she's eating and doing all chooky things, also decided to have second house to ease transition so sorting that today as did vinegar last night, this morning the 3 dominant birds set on the 2 orps as soon as they were all opened up...
Thanks for all the help guys, hopefully a little longer segregated will help

 

[Sue]

I separated my new hens for 3 weeks from the established flock within sight of the others and it still took 3 months from when I put them together for them to settle down completely and not get chased. There was no serious bullying though, just chasing and the occasional peck if they went near the wrong food container. Just a thought - have you got several feeders and drinkers around the run? Also are the new and existing hens vaccinated and if so against what diseases?