AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

I am having trouble with introducing newcomers to the current flock of 4 in my back yard. Should I consider debeaking to avoid any more fatalaties?

No. In my opinion its cruel and unnecessary and problems can generally be sorted out by adjusting husbandry or learning more about individual breed traits.

Sorry to be so forthright but debeaking birds is a punishment to them and alters everything about how they live. They can no longer peck their food properly, or preen properly, or scrach in the dirt and peck small things.

Could you please add as much information as you can about your current set up so we can offer specific advice?

How many existing hens do you have?
What breed are they?
What size area are they confined to during the day?
Do they get free range time? How long?

How old are the newcomers?
What breed are they?
Did you quarantine them first?

If you can start with that Im sure there'll be heaps of advice we can offer.

one word = NO

on debeaking never perish the thought . cheers n beers gary

Debeaking will not stop the social issues (bullying) , related to introducing new birds. Particulary in this case as you only have a few birds. Unfortunately debeaking was not conducted for this purpose, as un-neccessary as it is.

The best way to introduce the birds is house them separately, and have supervised visits or runs in a large yard over a week or two. The ever increasing time spent together will set the new social order.

Rhode Red

Do you have a rooster in your flock? if not it's high time you introduced a big macho, take no prisoners, rooster to your flock. He will forcefully introduce some manners to your girls. Apart from that a rooster will complete the social unit.

I will add my NO to this aswell

Unfortunately this isn't always possible when you live in suburbia.

I hope sweetie gets back to us with more information so we can help her (and her chooks).

Ok Thanks for replies guys.
Here is what we have. One largish shed with concrete floor (this happened because neighbour didn't like the smell! which is understandable considering we live in surburbia!)
4 current (hens 2 older, 2 younger -introduced new last year), 2 nesting boxes, one drinker, one seed dispenser.
Trying to introduce 2 new hens(did have 4 new ones but one died due to pecking and another is in "hospital" until she is well).
Its been 8 days since introducing. 2 new ones still spend a lot of time on top of nesting boxes to keep out the way. I have been regularly letting them out through out the day so that the newbies can get a drink and something to eat. All chooks are iso browns.
The chooks usually get around 3 hours a day of free range time. Now they are gettting a lot more than that due to the social problems!
Why would I quarantine the new ones please? Is tha tso they don't pass on anything? We are thinking of adding another smaller shed onto the big one just so the new ones have a space to go to out of the way of the others and also so that we can section it off next time to allow birds to get used to each other.
I currently have one pecked chook in the smaller shed on her own as she was injured but I am happy to say we have nursed her back to health. She just needs a bit more time to heal up properly.

Today I put down another feed bowl and water bowl to try to allow the newbies some where else to get their food from as the old girls are quite defensive of their food and water! This worked a little. It seems every time the newbies are down they get picked on, poor things. We didn't have this much trouble when we introduced new ones last time! The good thing is that there is no picking on the new ones so that they bleed so that is a step in the right direction! I have been watching them closely and worrying myself sick about the whole thing!

I am feeling a lot happier tho this week as to how things are progressing!

Once the one on its own is totally better I will probably get another mate for it then introduce it with its mate so that it isn't on its own when being bullied. I did notice that they tend to pick on the smallest bird tho, so I will be careful to try to get another one the same size!

So good it worked out without the debeaking that in my book is a BIG no no




LooLoo