Introducing a New Chicken

We have all heard of the phrase “the pecking order”. Chickens establish a hierarchial order in their flock. This is thought to have evolved over many thousands of years in the jungle fowl of South East Asia. The pecking order allowed the flock to eat in turn and peacefully when food was available. If they were fighting at these times, they would be wasting their opportunity to eat and attracting attention to themselves from predators.

The pecking order is still well and truly with the hens of today and hens can be incredibly cruel to newcomers. If you are mixing hens that aren’t used to one another, you should make sure you are around to keep an eye open for trouble. The following points may help:

  • Place newcomers behind a fence or in a small run for a week so that they can get used to their new surroundings and get used to one another.
  • Introduce a new hen at night to the coop when it is dark. Place her amongst the other hens. They will not fight in the dark and it will give the others a chance to get used to the new smell.
  • If pecking takes place, leave them to get on with it as much as you can. They have to establish the new pecking order but…
  • If blood is drawn at any point, remove the hen and try again when the injury has healed. Chickens are attracted to red and will peck blood very quickly.
  • You may want to try removing the hen that is fighting with the newcomer to the flock for a little while until the new hen has settled into the flock, then put the trouble maker back in.

If you are still having difficulty with the hens getting along, you can try an Anti-peck spray and if you have real problems, ‘bumpa bits‘ can be fitted to the beak for a while. These stop the end of the beak closing completely so prevent her from causing damage to other hens but she is still able to eat and drink normally.

158 Comments

  1. Hi i have introduced 4 new chickens to 4 existing – all into a new house, old chickens are 3 x pekins and 1 appenzeller the new girls are 2 hamburghs 1 pekin and 1 cross pekin/japanese. The old pekins are awful to the new ones – we are on day 3 now and i feel desperately sorry for the new ones who don’t get much peace ! should i move the old chickens (or some of them) to their old house for a bit and then gradually introduce them one by one? or let them fight it out for a bit longer?

    • I would give them some more time but try what you are suggesting if they still don’t seem to cope.

      Give them as much space as you can and ensure all are able to eat and drink. You may need to put more than one feeder and drinker down.

  2. Got my new girls one week ago to day,they are in a new coop and a run inside the main run, they are 16 weeks old, the other 5 have just gone a year old, they made a great noise when the others came but just go and look at them now. I had 1 of the new ones died 3 days after I got them but they gave me a new one, one of the new ones pecked her and chased her away, even though they have all grown up together. How long should I keep them from going with my older ones. They will all go into the new coop.

  3. Hi, I have a Warren Hen that I got with a Polish Bantam & the size didn’t seem to matter, they got along fine, however the Polish Bantam disappeared so I got 3 more, 1 cockerel & 2 Hens. The trio are very lovely but the Warren is going to extreme bullying to determine her place. I’ve kept them separate through the day but they can see each other through the wire, but my Warren is still not happy. The Cockerel keeps just cowering down & facing the hedge, it’s very sad to watch. We’re on day 4 now & still no change. Any ideas what I can do?

    • Give it time. 4 days isn’t long enough… after a couple of weeks, they should have found their place.

      I would guess the cockerel is young. She sees him as a threat to her position in the pecking order so is trying very hard to assert her position.

      As he matures, he should eventually take over as the top bird but this doesn’t always happen!

  4. After 2 weeks i have introduced 2 silkies one is 4months the other 1 year to my existing flock of 2 who are both a year old a buff orpington and a vorwerk. They have been seperated in the run by a divide but in the house now for 2 nights together. I put them together in the run now but the new 1 year silkie is deliberately pecking the old ones. She has been holding them down by standing on their heads and pecking so I have decided to divide her again. The 4 month silkie has no problems……. Should I perservere keeping her seperate a little longer or add her? I’m concerned the amount of bullying I’ve witnessed as within seconds of them being together she goes straight for them and doesn’t relent but does not do so when divide is up she has no interest.

    • I would try separating them but keeping them in close proximity for a little while longer and then re-introducing them where they have more space. You may need to leave them to ‘get on with it’ then for a few weeks but separate them if blood is drawn as chickens are attracted to red and will peck that area.

  5. I’ve recently introduced two new hens to my existing two.
    So far so good – the older ones are not keen on the newer ones following them around the garden but there’s no pecking or nastiness going on. They all happily go into the coop together at night and the new hens are laying in the right place within the coop. Only problem is I’ve just discovered that the older two are now laying in a hidden spot in the garden rather than using the nesting box as they always did before…. I thought they’d stopped laying for a couple of days as they were a bit out of sorts with the new arrivals – but I just found 5 eggs under a bush. Should I just allow them to carry on laying here as they obviously prefer it at the moment and it’s not a problem to me, or should I do something to encourage them back into the coop? If so, what should I do?
    Thanks…..

    • I would try to encourage them to lay in the nest boxes. Dummy eggs in there and making it dark by hanging an old feed sack over three quarters of the entrance might help.

      • Hello
        Latest update to my egg saga – I got some dummy eggs as you suggested and put one (rubber egg) in the coop. Weirdly, this and the eggs being laid by my new hens disappeared from the coop! I put a second (wooden) egg into the coop the next day – this and the eggs disappeared again! It is only on the days when I am at home (about 3 days a week) that we are getting any eggs in the coop – as I seem to intercept them before somebody or something runs off with them!
        The existing hens are still laying in the bush and their eggs are not being taken – I’m sticking with that as I do want to keep some eggs!!
        Unless it’s a neighbour letting themselves in and pinching our eggs – but foolishly pinching a rubber egg and a wooden egg too, I cannot think what is taking them…. do you have any ideas? Would a badger or rat take a dummy egg? I can’t imagine this…. Also, I should add that my chickens free range in my walled garden – it’s walled completely – no dogs ever come in – only the occasional cat, I doubt a badger would get into the garden and certainly not in broad daylight when it’s happening – plus the chickens are all fine – nothing is attacking them…..
        The coop is a modified old Victorian privvy in the corner of the garden – it has a big open door during the day – but is very secure at night when we go and shut them up.
        Unless I put a camera up to record what’s happening, I’m not sure what else to do…. do you have any suggestions?
        Hoping you might have some clues from your experience…. Many thanks in advance
        Julie

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