We got them last Wednesday. I have read that we should not mix hens with different ages because this would lead to pecking order and cannibalism. True enough, that is what happened. As soon as I put the younger birds in the coop, the older birds start pecking on them. And I have noticed that there is 1 hen that is particularly aggressive. She pecked the feather off from the new birds again and again. The new birds were so scared that they “hide” in the corner.
Since I have somewhat expected this to happen , I decided to put the 5 new birds in a cage inside the coop. I hope this would give some time both group to recognize each other. The new birds are debeaked, so they cannot defend themselves. I tried to debeak one of the aggressive birds but I don’t think I can do that unless I have the right tool – a hot blade to melt away the beak.
I read that on a pasture free range setting the feather pecking is minimized. Since I can only provide them a “yarding” setting, I might have to kill that old hen to save the 5, but I will wait for another week and try to mix them again. It is interesting to note that not all old hens are aggressive, so hens do have different “personalities”.