introducing chickens

I just rescued this hen!!! I actually rescued four hens and a duck but was only able to keep ONE. A family friend is going through a divorce so we decided to rescue the animals after finding about 10+ chickens and ducks that were dead. I absolutely had to take them and find the other homes. I...

Hi friends, A little bit of background: we have 5 hens that are about 3 years old. This year we decided to add three more to the flock. We got chicks about 9 weeks ago and have since found that two of them are roosters, which we are not allowed to keep in our neighborhood. This puts us in a...

Hello! I’m planning on buying a huge new flock of chickens from McMurray and want to add a guard goose. We have terrible predators (I’m getting poultry netting for those forsaken hawks but we also have rats and other predators) and I think it’s a great solution until I get LGDs. Since I’m...

So, of course, I'll need to post some backstory. We have 4 hens over a year old. We also had 2 pullets that were 15 weeks old. Blueberry and Butta. Butta was a tiny little silkie pullet. Cutest squeaky toy ever. But, a opossum got her! Blueberry was devastated. As were we. So, we took another...

Hi! I currently have three chickens, one approximately a year old not sure what breed and two three month old frizzle pekin bantams. a few months ago we had a fox attack our flock and were left with only one chicken, the oldest I have at the moment. since then I've gotten the two frizzles and a...

I am on year two of raising chickens, so this is my first year integrating flocks. I've been educating myself on introducing pullets to adults, but I have a question since I have different aged chicks/pullets currently housed separately. I have two batches of chicks that I hatched one month...

A coyote got to my flock and I was left with one 9-month-old (Salem). This weekend I am going to pick up two 4-month-old pullets. My question is should I keep them separate initially as I have done with chicks in the past, or would it be okay to introduce the pullets to the same coop since Salem...

In the spring I will be receiving 6 RSL hens and two weeks later will be introducing 6 Orpingtons to the flock. My coop is currently empty and I've cared for both breeds before but have never had to introduce new chickens. Most introduction methods talk about established flocks however I'm sure...

Hello. 👋 I recently got 2 Polish Chickens. 😃 They are around 10 or 12 weeks old & right now I have them in their own separate pen right up against the big coop so they can all get usto seeing each other. I was curious as to what you do to safely introduce younger chickens to an already...

Hello! I have two sets of chickens that I hatched. One batch the end of June and the other in July. I recently separated all the roosters we are going to butcher from the rest of the flock. There are still two roosters with my hens but now they will not free range like they did before. They just...

So I have three Pullets in an enclosure within my chicken run, to try to acclimate them to my older flock. My flock usually free range, however, I wanted them to get to know their new flock mates, instead of avoiding them, when they free range. My question is this: How long can I expect to...

I was able to get 6 one year old hens. 5 RIRs and 1 black Maran. My current flock is 4ish months old. With them being older do I have to wait awhile to fully introduce them? They already lay eggs of course so I don’t want to have to keep them in the smaller outdoor pen for too long. They are...

We moved into our house a year ago and it came with a nice prefab coop, about 3x5 feet. The attached enclosure is about 30 sq ft total which includes the space under the coop. We didn’t get any chickens last year because things were crazy, but this past April we ended up taking two 6 month olds...

So recently I had a chicken pass away from a dog bite so now I am left with one chicken. We just brought home to 3-4 week old chicks who are staying in the house until they are ready to go outside. Everyday I have brought the chicks oitside to show muc chicken so she can hopefully get used to...

Ok so this is gonna be a bit of a long one so apologies in advance. I had two flocks before (was watching a rooster and hen for someone else And they took them back so i was only left with one) apparently I live in an area where you’re not allowed to have roosters (even though you hear like 20...

Hi there lovely community I have a 2 yr old barnevelder named Ponyo, who recently lost her best mate Honey 6 days ago to a fox. She is lonely and sad, also has mites we discovered today, and so has been extra lethargic. Have dusted her in pestene and ordered some mite spray and disposed of...

Hello everyone I am new to this website! I have been reading that you should sterilize your coop before introducing new chickens into your flock. I currently have three, 3 month old Rhode Island Red pullets and 4 Barred Rock chicks. The Rhode Island Reds are outside in my large wooden backyard...

I have three 12-week old pullets that I am slowly introducing to my existing flock of 5 chickens (2 are 2-1/2 years old and 3 are 1-1/2 years old). I currently have the pullets in a temporary run next to the main coop/run for the next month until I take the final steps to fully integrate them...

Hi! I have a 8' x 8' coop, in which I put a 2' x 8' division for younger chicks. I have four chicks that are 9 weeks old in the large area of the coop, and six chicks that are 5 weeks old in the small area. The younger chicks were moved from the brooder to that division since a week, so it's...

Hello, we bought 6 chicks (3 buff orpingtons, 2 Speckled sussexes, and 1 black Australorp) and they are now 8 weeks old. I have the opportunity to add a polish and silkie, both 9 weeks old. Do I need to introduce them gradually? Or since they are all young can you just add them in? Thank you!