ingrid

I learned a lot about chickens this year, but perhaps the best thing I learned that I will put to use in the future is how to integrate new chickens into a home flock.

First of all, there are chicken psychologists out there who will tell you all about their special methods for integrating new birds with minimal trauma.  It involves quarantining the bird, holding the bird a lot, bonding with the bird, and then introducing slowly visually before the other birds have a chance to peck the new bird’s guts out.  Meanwhile you, the owner, stand near the new bird and say “NO!” firmly whenever another bird tries to flay it.  You are suppose to be like the head bird or something and your word goes.  That is bullshit.  Or at least, I tried that and it didn’t seem to work so great.  My new bird at this time last year, Hildy, was quickly cowed and attacked and pecked so much that she was featherless across her back most of last year.  Here is what I did wrong.

First of all, I only introduced one bird at a time.  Mistake.  One new bird quickly becomes an obvious target for EVERYONE ELSE.  Because the old birds are not so bright, it is much better to introduce 3 or so birds to them so that they can not easily distinguish whom to jump.  It is also much more exhausting for them to try to attack every newcomer when there are just so many of them!

Last year I introduced my one bird into the henhouse that everyone was comfortable in.  They already knew their roosting spots and weren’t eager to shove over for a newcomer.  This year, I took the hens out of their old spot and shoved them into their new house at the same time as I introduce the four new hens.  Everyone was bewildered!  No one could get up the focus or presence of mind to attack anyone else!  If I had not been moving the hens anyway, I could have accomplished the same thing by putting the hens somewhere weird for a night and half a day (like our shed) before reintroducing them to their hen house.  This is sort of a solitary confinement thing, and could also be accomplished by separating the hens out into cardboard boxes for the night— each bird thinks they are out of the flock and therefore doesn’t really know their place/is ready to reestablish pecking order.  Or maybe put them in the weird spot, lock them out of the chicken run for the day while the new hens roamed around in there and then let them go back in at twilight while the new hens were already down to roost.  Ah hah!  Chicken psychology.

Birds of a feather do sort of flock together.  Our old hens hang out near each other while the new ones prefer each other’s company, but our new hens and old hens all seem to be getting along.  No one is missing feathers or looking harassed like Hildy was last year.  Thus, my new methods for chicken introduction and Hildy with her new feathers makes the list for THE BEST!

In: Awesome!, Chickens Are Super Fabulous | | #