What age to introduce new chickens to existing flock?

[wildmountainboy]

I haven't integrated any new chickins into my flock but I plan to this spring. I have however, integrated new quail into my covey. Tennessee reds are particularly aggressive so what I do is take my least dominate quail put it together with a new quail in clear view of my main run. One on one they sort out their issues for a few days usually the new quail becoming dominant. Then I bring in the next and put the first one back in with the rest, again a one on one sinario. By this time the odds are evened up and the new guy has learned to stick up for himself and the 2 he became acquainted with usually don't join in with the hazeing. I'm planning on doing the same with my chicken. First with my least dominate hen in with the noobs. Then working my way up the pecking order until the new birds have some "friends on the inside."

 

[Sunflower3628ac]

I would let the youngers free range with the olders, but go back to their own coop at night, for a few weeks...see what happens.

Of your 2 younger roosters, one is dominate and the other is quiet probably because the crower dominated him.
Once the roosters all have free access there will probably be some fighting.

Might be a good idea to choose one rooster, 16 hens is plenty for one rooster...but maybe not 2-3.

Maybe integrate the hens to the large coop and keep the extra roosters in the smaller coop/run.

Good Luck!

I agree, I have two Millie Fleur Roos that are six months older than my Ameraucana Roo. He spars with the other two but runs away. He could hurt them because of his size. The two gang up together and it is quite funny. They don't let him roost in the coop at night so he roosts on the door next to the opening. The two girls that hatched with him occasionally spend the night with him.
Once I get more hens to make the hen/roo ratio better I think the five hens I have will be thankful. I have a separate run next to the coop with a smaller coop just for integrating new birds into the flock. I supervise the free ranging when introducing newbies too.

Best wishes....

 

[Carolyn78]

Being new to raising chickens and not knowing about this site I put 2-3 week old chicks out in my coop with birds that were about 4 months old and luckily I had no disasters. I put them in at night and they didn't care about the baby chicks at all(they sometimes chased them back to their corner). Mine free range all day and come back in at night, the babies stayed in the coop for the next 2 months until they started running out. My coop is rather large and maybe that has something to do with it as well. But now they are almost a year old and I have a few hatchlings and I will try the dog crate method as I would be devastated if they killed the babies.

 

[acemario]

So interesting to hear everyone's techniques!

 

[ozarkchicks]

I'm really glad I read this thread. I was thinking since I had so few hens and so many pullets that it wouldn't really matter. I know it won't be that simple now and I'm really thankful to all of you guys for your input and different ideas.

 

[Concerned01]

I have a 10' X 14' coop enclosed, the hen house is inside this for my 3 girls. For heating purposes I have put a tarp over the hen house tied to the coop and heater underneath. The straw I use for insulation as well. My girls do Not like snow.
My question is this, I plan on getting 5 to 7 more girls next month. Keeping them with heat lamp on the other side of the straw from the big girls. It's big enough
I believe but want to make sure that my big girls are not going to freak out hearing the babies.
Thoughts? Comments? Cross my fingers?

 

[cdb1949]

Integrate at night when they go to roost. Let them wake up together. Leave the little ones food in a container but mine are 9 weeks old and her mom has them scratching for food about 2-3 weeks already. They should be fine

 

[triplepurpose]

If they've been in adjacent areas where each flock can see eachother most of the time, you shouldn't have much problem, since they are already used to each other. And 4 months old is plenty old enough to fend for themselves, either way. I've never waited that long. Often I have chicks with adults from 1 month or younger onwards, but that's when they are raised by a hen who is part of the flock already.

Some pecking and chasing is a normal part of establishing a pecking order during integration--don't mistake it for actually bullying. It's how chickens communicate. You don't need to interfere unless the attacks are really persistent, there is blood drawn, or a particular chicken is being singled out consistently, etc.

The cockerels interacting with your roosters won't be a problem until the cockerels are old enough to start challenging the roosters, and if there is conflict you'll have to decide how to deal with that if and when it happens. But often cockerels who are raised under a dominant rooster will learn their place early and integrate easily--it's when you stick multiple fully grown roosters together all of a sudden that you get problems. So the sooner they are integrated, the better, from that standpoint.

 

[simplyr0wdy]

I have 4 adult hens and one rooster, i incubated and hatched 9 chicks and at 3 months out them outside in their own pen and coop, which had one area that is connected with the adults pen, after two weeks i was able to open up and connected the pens to one another and they get along fine the adults just mostly ignore the little ones. I have barred rock, Rhode Island reds, and a few mixes of the two

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Looking for advice on how to integrate older birds. I have two side by side coops because I had two quarrelsome roosters. The older rooster had six hens, but three passed away and he himself died this winter. The young rooster has his six hens, all almost a year old. They all stay indoors for winter but free range from spring to fall, just coming in to be safe at night. The flock of three is led by an old lady, maybe almost ten? and not likely to defer to the young roo, her sister's snotty chick! But she's also a bit arthritic and limps and couldn't get away from the young girls if they decided to give her the business. Should I keep them seperate? Try integration and hope for the best? Alternate free range days?