“Buff Orpingtons welcome newcomers,” HA😂! Our Buff Orpington is the alpha of the flock, and her “welcome” for new additions has always been to greet them with one swift peck to the head. After this, she lays off unless one of the pullets being added decides to test her luck against her (to which none have ever won against her, as she’s HUGE, even for an Orpington😅). Obviously breeds have their stereotypes and general rules of thumb, but there’s also the occasional oddballs who decide to stand out amongst those of their kind by behaving entirely differently! That’s totally normal for all animals, and I believe it makes them stand out more amongst the rest, and I love all of our hens dearly🥰! Also, larger breeds are not always more dominant over smaller breeds. We have a White Leghorn who is higher in the pecking order than our Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Light Brahma, and our two Ameraucanas. She’s a sassy little girl, but she’s actually super sweet with people. Again, there’s that differentiation of stereotypes at play🤷🏻♂️, and I love it.
Once my chicks were 9 weeks (it's winter waited till fully feathered) I had them free range with the older girls for about 3 days then once the bullying slowed down I let them live in the run and coop. It was my first time introducing new birds to the existing flock. It seemed to work great, I've noticed the coops temperature rose 5 degrees since introducing them so I'm sure the old ladies appreciate that.
I have a flock of 6 birds. I had 12 and lost half to sickness. I ended up with two roosters to 4 hens and they are almost reaching sexual maturity. I know what is to come. I can not bring myself to get rid of one rooster. I love both too much. Would it be better to add more hens to offset ratio? Or separate the one rooster and give him separate space? I was told just get rid of one rooster, but they are both my boys. I was going to get more hens and follow your steps to integrating them
Make sure you give new chicks/pullets enough outdoor time to become accustomed to the already established flock and separate any and all aggressive chickens from the flock BEFORE adding the growing chicks. The aggressive ones will not tolerate the new members.
“Buff Orpingtons welcome newcomers,” HA😂! Our Buff Orpington is the alpha of the flock, and her “welcome” for new additions has always been to greet them with one swift peck to the head. After this, she lays off unless one of the pullets being added decides to test her luck against her (to which none have ever won against her, as she’s HUGE, even for an Orpington😅). Obviously breeds have their stereotypes and general rules of thumb, but there’s also the occasional oddballs who decide to stand out amongst those of their kind by behaving entirely differently! That’s totally normal for all animals, and I believe it makes them stand out more amongst the rest, and I love all of our hens dearly🥰!
Also, larger breeds are not always more dominant over smaller breeds. We have a White Leghorn who is higher in the pecking order than our Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Light Brahma, and our two Ameraucanas. She’s a sassy little girl, but she’s actually super sweet with people. Again, there’s that differentiation of stereotypes at play🤷🏻♂️, and I love it.
Once my chicks were 9 weeks (it's winter waited till fully feathered) I had them free range with the older girls for about 3 days then once the bullying slowed down I let them live in the run and coop. It was my first time introducing new birds to the existing flock. It seemed to work great, I've noticed the coops temperature rose 5 degrees since introducing them so I'm sure the old ladies appreciate that.
Thank you! This was extremely helpful!
Wow learned so much
I have a flock of 6 birds. I had 12 and lost half to sickness. I ended up with two roosters to 4 hens and they are almost reaching sexual maturity. I know what is to come. I can not bring myself to get rid of one rooster. I love both too much. Would it be better to add more hens to offset ratio? Or separate the one rooster and give him separate space? I was told just get rid of one rooster, but they are both my boys. I was going to get more hens and follow your steps to integrating them
Make sure you give new chicks/pullets enough outdoor time to become accustomed to the already established flock and separate any and all aggressive chickens from the flock BEFORE adding the growing chicks. The aggressive ones will not tolerate the new members.
I have 3 small pens if I build one big pen and put them all in it will they still fight since it's new to all?
What kind of chicken is that big black splash rooster at the beginning of the video? I’m guessing a leghorn
I recently had to process my rooster. I want to introduce another one to my flock of 10. Any thoughts
Hi
You have a lot of good information...please slow down talking. Your rapid speech msked it fiffivult to absorb anything.