Making New Hens Happy

It is inevitable that you will, over time, need to add new chickens into your flock.

It is not as simple as it may seem. Someone told me it's like managing to merge two restaurants when one is Italian and the other is Chinese. There will be stress, not an assumption but a fact.

Many poultry owners when ready to expand or replenish their chicken flock take certain precautions while importing birds purchased from the outside. Adding new breeds into your peaceful and comfortable neighborhood of chickens can generate quite a rumble between the old and the new.

Others take their time and wait for hens to hatch their eggs. That method requires a lot of patience since chicks won't lay for weeks.

Admit it, nobody, including chickens, initially like newcomers. So adding newcomers into a flock of hens that already have certain territories inside their coop can be cause a big mess. The newcomers will try to make their place too, and the oldies will try their best to protect their area.

Not to worry, this kind of attitude and feud generally lasts for only a couple of days. Adaptation will take place. You can't avoid this kind of predicament from happening, but you can make certain adjustments that can make everybody happy and stress-free.

There are several peace-making strategies to help both parties adjust with each other. It's nice to see your new and old birds in one space without having to stop them from pecking one another.

One very good strategy is to let them see each other without having any physical contact. How? If you have a run (which is basically attached to the coop), you could put your old chickens there and then put a border (chicken wire) between the run and the coop. Put your new chickens inside the coop. This way, they are able to see each other minus the harm. Be sure that both parties have access to sufficient food and water. You can do this for about a week.

When the week has passed, you can now "join" them in one area. Transfer the newcomers to the resident flock's territory during the night when all the birds are sleeping. Upon waking up, the old chickens will notice the new ones and they may try to start a fight but will not be on their best game because they are too groggy to start much. This strategy doesn't always prove effective but it's worth trying.

Distraction techniques are always effective. You really want to alleviate the tactics of war coming from the resident chickens. If you don't do this, the old hens will chase the newcomers 'till all their feathers come off.' That is devastating.

Some of the distracting techniques are:

Cabbage heads can do the trick. Hang a whole cabbage just above their head, chickens will reach it until everything is finished. During the excitement, they may just get exhausted by jumping for the treat and be too distracted to notice the new birds.

Create a new obstacle for a challenge. Do this by adding large branches inside the run and coop. They will enjoy exploring the changes and be distracted.

Expand their free area. Let them run around at a wider and freer range. The oldies will be so thrilled to dig for grubs and insects they wouldn't even notice that there are newcomers roaming around.

In any event, in a fairly short period of time, things will settle down and the hens can return to the important business at hand . . .laying your eggs.

There is a lot to learn about successfully growing Backyard Chickens. Sign up for a FREE course at http://www.allaboutbackyardchickens.com
It is both fun and informative. Learn from the pros.