introducing the new girls...

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Cab

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I gave the two new girls a couple of hours with the older girls this evening. Didn't go bad, they've been looking at each other for a fortnight and they didn't immediately go for each other. I gave them a break of another hour apart before bed, then squirted with perfume and put the youngsters in with the others when everyone was sleepy. Got some concerns though.

Charlie the new leghorn is a bruiser. Shes already trying to displace the other low ranked hens, to the point where she seems likely to cause a problem. She and the other new girl Edie the cream legbar are like chalk and cheese; Edie is a timid thing who spent nearly all of the time with the others up on a perch, and she got rather more bullying than I'd have liked.

I've only introduced new hens once before, so I'm a little inexperienced. If they get up tomorrow without too much aggro am I over the worst of it? How much pecking and squabbling is just sorting out an order? Any other advice folk?
 
Keep watch when you can, but don't intervene unless blood is shed. Its hard to watch but you have done everything right, and if you feel
Edie needs a bit of a break for a breather to eat and drink and rest for a while, take her out for a bit of TLC. For 20 minutes now and then. I'm sure you've arranged for more than one feeder and drinker, and have provided extra perches higher up and places to hide?
Doesn't sound as if Charlie needs any help. Let her get on with it, the others will either put her in her place or let her dominate them. Again, watch to see she isn't causing real injuries.
Sounds as if you will have an interesting day tomorrow - what a good idea to do all this at a weekend.
 
A few timeouts helped poor Edie. Its not that she can't get to the food and water, she's just too frightened. Shes had a sad day, but no blood drawn. Such a timid creature, Jane the bluebell really has spent rather too much time bullying her, Mary the goldline chipping in too. I'm sure if she just showed a bit more confidence shed be fine. Boss hen Bess has given her the occasional peck to put her in her place but otherwise was fine, happily perching with Edie during the day. Tilly the Rhode rock isn't fussed uncles Edie runs at her in a panic because Jane has had a go at her. And charlie is just fine. Pondering giving Jane a day or three in the spare hen house if things don't improve.

Fingers crossed for better tomorrow. Got to go to work tomorrow, but will be up plenty early enough to spend some time with them first. And can come home at lunchtime to check on them.
 
Sounds OK to me. Is Edie maybe a little bit younger than Charlie? Even a week makes a big difference at their age. As I said, if no blood is shed, the process will,settle faster if you keep interventions to a minimum, but help Edie to eat and drink in peace now and then. If you separate her at this stage, she will only have to go through it all again when reintroduced.
You could try scattering a handful of corn on the ground and then they will all feed together because they are too busy to bother about pecking Edie. She can feed on the edge of the scattered group.
I've found the worst ones for bullying a young newbie are the one or two at the bottom of the pecking order previously - they do love to be able to pull rank on someone else at last!
 
Yes, Edie is a couple of weeks younger, but comfortably bigger. And her age does show in temperament.

Jane is probably bottom of the old pecking order and she is very much the hardest on Edie. Mary less so.

Charlie is still clearly separate from the old girls but she is very easily holding her own. Didn't lay yesterday but its about a week since her last day off. So nothing immediately worrying about that.

I'll keep watching. Fingers crossed. I won't take Edie out unless must, but I could be tempted to take Jane out of there unless she let's up!

Cheers marigold!

Cab
 
Size doesn't matter nearly as much as maturity. Two weeks is a long time in the life of a growing pullet. When you think that a hen lives perhaps 4-5 years, and a human perhaps 80-90, that's 20+ times longer for us than them. So 2 weeks of a pullet's adolescence is equivalent to 40 weeks of a teenagers life, maybe 10 months or so.
I usually wait until new pullets are 20 weeks old before introducing them. The extra hassle of looking after them separately for another week or two is counterbalanced by giving them time to settle in, start feeding well, get wormed, and grow up enough to integrate more easily. Edie will get there, but it may take a little time.
 
Oh, she should be 19 1/2 or 20 weeks old now. So should be of an age to introduce her, she was 18 weeksish when we got her. So she SHOULD get there.

I do wonder if Jane is particularly problematic because (as you may remember) she was ill not so long back. Lost some kudos with the other girls then, I should think. May still be feeling somewhat insecure in her pecking order place.
 
Oh well, if she's that age she will be OK in time.
Do they do therapy for hens with insecurity problems? Can just see Jane, lying back on a couch, talking to a psychoanalyst!
 
I'm still giving her some time-outs to make sure she's getting food down her.

Today seems to have been a bit better - although she still spends most of her time up on the high perch she's craning down to watch what everyone is doing, she's happy she can escape to at least that safety.

Chicken mental health, eh? We need a chicken whisperer...
 
They're not settled yet. Well, Charlie Leghorn is fine - its like she's been there all along. And although leghorns are meant to be flighty critters who don't want to be handled this one is pretty much a soppy beggar.

Edie the Cream Legbar ain't quite so happy though. She's still being picked on by Jane Bluebell and Mary Goldline - but she's worked out she can hide behind Charlie Leghorn or Old Bess Speckledy, or sit up on the high perch or mooch about in the house (big space in there, windowed, and perching space aplenty). I'm giving her timeouts with cuddles and epic feeding and extra water twice a day, but I'm not sure that the bottom two girls who have been picking on her are showing much sign of letting up. Oh and the Tilly BlackRock is okay with the new girls but doesn't really understand whats going on - she's not acting threatened nor is she over-friendly.

Bess Speckledy is still worth her weight in gold - she sits and snuggles up on the perch with Edie happy enough, and I think that'll win the others over.

No bloodshed, so mustn't grumble! And everyone who WAS laying is STILL laying, so thats all good :)
 
Edie still having a harder time than I'd like.

How long do you think this will take? A week in, the bottom two of the old pecking order are still giving her grief.
 
Nothing you can do to speed the process I'm afraid, at least she has your kind Speckledy as a friend. So long as she's not being actually injured, and is feeding and drinking, she will eventually be OK.
If you are really worried, you could try removing the two bully girls and isolating them for a bit. Then Edie could integrate better with the remaining kinder ones, and when the other two return, they may well find they have been demoted a bit in their turn. Try returning them one at a time maybe.
 
I wonder if Janes soft-shell/nearly shell-less egg problem (she's the one who was poorly, now laying eggs overnight but they flop apart) is something I should be dealing with at the same time - if I separate Jane and Mary then I get Jane away from Matilda and Bess who are the culprits who are eating mess.

I'll ponder on that - it might just alleviate both problems until Jane stops for winter (which she should, soon probably). I'm currently crossing my fingers that Jane will come back to laying proper eggs in Spring.
 
As you say that Jane was previously the bottom of the pecking order, and is now the hardest on Edie, that makes sense. Yes I think separating her would be a good idea, as you say a way to attack two problems at once, the egg eating as well as the bullying. Maybe provide a calcium supplement such as Nettex Mineral Powder as a boost over the winter, to build up her reserves? The box recommend feeding a sprinkle every day for three out of four weeks, but I just add a small amount to their daily warm damp mash, and I've definitely noticed an improvement in shell quality from all of them.
 
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