Combining new pullets

I'm adding to my coop and run in hopes of adding some new pullets. My questions are many....

I have 5 GC that are 7 months and only 2 are laying so far but I'm wanting to get some Easter eggers or Americaunas. Do you think there will be any issues? Will my GC hens stop laying when I get the new pullets? Will they pick on the new hens? Should I keep them in two different runs side by side before I combine them? Is there another type of hen that would co-exist better with my GC?
Thanks in advance for your responses.

How old are the new birds? If they are roughly the same size, you can add them together. If they are chicks, you need to raise them separately and combine them when they are the same size. Put them together at night, it goes smoother that way. Also, integrate more than 1 bird. Integrating 1 is hard on the 1 new to the flock.

You can expect a disruption in laying on your older birds for about a week or so.

Thanks for the response. The new birds are roughly the same age and I'm adding 2 or 3 to the existing girls. My girls have been dealing with my beating around and changing around the coop for a week now and I figured they would stop laying while I was adding on but they have kept right on laying and even follow me around while I'm working as if nothing is going on. I was just worried they might pick on the new girls when they arrive.

rlmiddlebrooks said:

I was just worried they might pick on the new girls when they arrive.

Click to expand...

They will to some degree, but usually things settle down pretty quickly. They will just establish that they are above the new birds by pecking them. Let them work it out unless there is blood drawn. The more birds you add at the same time, the less of a beating the new birds will take because the current birds can't chase all of them at once.

Ok I added the new birds tonight. I got four birds and put them in the coop after my girls were already in the bed. Immediately my boss hen got off the roost in the dark. Obviously she was a bit upset with the new additions but hopefully they will work it out over the next few days. They are still out there squawking in the dark on the roost. We will see how it goes with the new Easter eggers.

New pullets are getting chased around and the noise coming from my coop is crazy. I have checked on them a couple of times this morning and no blood on anybody so I'm sure in the next few days things will get back to normal.....I hope...

Baptism by fire, huh?

The 'putting them in at night' thing can work, but often does not.
The premise is that the existing birds won't notice the newcomers when they all wake up together...
...but...
like bobbie-j sez "chickens aren't the brightest animals on this planet, but they're not that stupid."

Best to keep them separated by wire for a few weeks so they can get used to the 'intruders' before allowing physical contact.
Hope you have lots of space, places to hide 'out of line of sight' and/or up and away form the aggressors.
Multiple feed/water stations will help.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best of mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

Thanks for the reply and links. I have a small 4x8 run that is actually attached to the big 9x12 and before I left home I went ahead and put the new pullets in the smaller run and I will probably leave them in that run for a few days. They have a run and a nice coop and even a couple of nesting boxes. These pullets are actually bigger than my golden comets so I was a bit surprised at how they were able to push them around without any fuss from the new girls. I guess that's how I would be if all of a sudden I woke up with some new people sleeping in my house and eating my food.