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Fighting birds

F

flying belgian

Well-known Member
Is there any way I can introduce 8 new chickens into
the same chicken house as 35 older hens? They are
the same breed but the old ones started fighting
them to the point where I had to separate them or
they would have killed them. Really don't want to
heat my other chicken house this winter for 8
chickens.
 
Form an enclosure they can see but not get to each other and segregate them for 6 weeks. Even then they will have to go thru the pecking order and you will lose 1 or 2. I never was able to introduce without losing some. Maybe just separate for the winter. HTH
DON TX
 
I've been able to do it accidentally. I had one from another house that was getting henpecked. I put her in a wire cage in the middle of another chicken house. After a week I let her out. All was well. She wasn't new at that point and was all healed up.

If they have enough room and something to do it will help. Make sure that they have enough roost space and can get off the floor away from each other. It won't be easy, but it can be done.
 
I guess I'm just lucky.

I had 17 layers originally. I bought 6 new layer chicks and raised them along with my usual 60 meat bird chicks.

About the time I had finished slaughtering the meat birds (around 14 weeks) and was ready to move the new layers into the coop with all the other layers, my daughter decided she was done with chickens and gave me 8 of hers.

I just waited until it was completely dark and my layers were roosting for the night, and slipped all 14 new birds into the coop. The next day I didn't let them out beyond their fenced in yard (they normally free range) and gave the new birds 36 hours to imprint on their new home.

Yes, there was a little fussing while everybody found their place in the new order of things, but no blood drawn and when I let them out to free range on the second day, everybody found their way home that night.

I've done this every other year or so for 20 years and never lost a bird to aggression.
 
Additonal thought: Overcrowding will lead to fighting.

IIRC, 3 square feet of floor space per bird is recommended.

I have 31 birds in a 10x12 coop so that's nearly 4 square feet per bird.

Plenty of roosting opportunities help as well. Dominant birds will take the highest roosting spots.
 
When we had both hogs, and chickens, we used the same trick, pour about a tablespoon of used motor oil down the back of the head, and along the back of each chicken (or pig) in the group. It kills the flock odor(or taste!) that the original chickens have, long enough, so that by the time it wears off, they all smell the same.
 
If it was me, I'd let them go at it and then sell or shoot the survivors. Don't like chickens.
 
we have a pen within the pen with a separate entry into the coop partioned off by chicken wire. So they can see one another - run the new ones like that for about a week and then turn em all out together. I haven't lost any yet.
 
A fellow told me once to put the new chickens in at night and when they all wake up in the morning they will accept whoever is there. This has worked for me except for a situation where the new chickens are noticeably littler than the old ones, in that case I would let them grow separately till they are full size.
Zach
 
My Mom told a story about when she was a kid, her mother told one of her brothers (about 12 years old) to go the the chicken pen and kill a particular rooster to cook for supper.

Her brother, my uncle, chased the rooster around for a half hour and couldn't catch it. He got mad, got a .22 rifle, and shot it.
 
Try putting them in at night, like they say "like a chicken they (someone) wakes up in a new world every day". I know some of those folks.
 
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