integration

Hi there! I am starting my backyard flock with a chicken tractor. I am due to pick up three 7month old hens and two 4month old hens on the same day. I am wondering everyone’s thoughts on best way to integrate these girls? It’s no one’s “turf” because they’re all new (literally at the same time)...

I have a flock of 12 hens and 2 roosters. They are all roughly 8 months old. One of the roosters is clearly dominant. The other spends his day on the outskirts of the flock or with the occasional hen if they can find privacy. The only time he seems to have much company is in the evening when 3-4...

So today I had two bielefelder pullets and one BCM cockerel I added to our main flock. There were 8 weeks. The cockerel while cute and lovely will probably be rehomed in the next two weeks but I didn’t want to separate him from his two gals to integrate them into the main flock and leave him...

We've had 7 silkies living the opposite side of the yard since March. Now they are almost 5 months old and winter is coming so...we shut the door to their temp coop. I got the sunflower hearts bag out (ultimate treat) and got them down to the coop. Getting them into the chicken door took a...

I know there are a lot of threads discussing integration, but I thought I would just ask for advice since my situation is unique. I have two coops: the first is for my adult hens, though in the warmer months they refuse to sleep in the coop and roost in the trees at night (I've come to the...

I am new here, and new to the whole chicken thing. Back in April I got 2 buff orphingtons, 1 maran, and 2 easter egger pullets. Then a couple months after I got a polish mixed roo and polish mix bantam hen who did well integrating with my others. Over summer I got obsessed with wanting silkies...

I currently have 3 chickens - an approx. 18-month-old Bovans Brown called Lulu (used to have 2 until we had a racoon visit...), plus a 12-week-old EE called Jellybean and a 12-week-old barred rock called Pepper that I added earlier this spring. Lulu is not super impressed with the new additions...

We rescued two baby ducklings on Aug 9th that were dumped at the local pond. Possibly some undergraduate project, it coincided with the end of summer term at TAMU. Can anyone identify what kind they are? I kind of think Indian Runner and Pekin cross (is that a thing?).. they seem to stand up...

Hi there! I'm a new chicken mom, and I have gotten a few more birds from a neighbor that are in quarantine. However, I was very nervous when I first got chickens about predators (we do have raccoons in the area, though we have a large dog and I haven't seen them in my yard before). I worked hard...

Hello BYC Fam! I have two female 6 month old Pilgrims. They had a gander (my beautiful baby boy RIP) but he sacrificed himself to save his girls and is in goose heaven now. The two girls were entirely dependent on his leadership and his protection and are incredibly distressed by his passing...

I’ve integrated new chickens several times without issue. What is going on with this batch?! This was a small hatch of just two—one BC Marans rooster & one hopefully olive egger hen (maransXamerucana). They are about 2 months old & I delayed putting them in the coop because of extreme heat...

I had some chicken drama, involving a Fox and some hens. My set up is free range with a large secure coop for feeding, sleeping and laying. Long story short, I ended up getting a big astrolorp roo a little over a year old and 6 1yr old hens. I made the choice to integrate them all at once with...

Hello! We have chicks (we had a mature flock, but all have passed), and this is my first experience raising chicks and integrating flocks. In part because we didn’t know what we didn’t know, we ended up with a 3-5 week age difference between our two groupings, then due to space constraints, we...

Hello! I recently traded out two of the five flock members for two new ones (females) who are quite a bit smaller than the remaining three (also females). I know there are rules for integrating new flock members safely so that they do not get bullied, however, I was in quite a rush when these...

I've never tried this before, but I need to add my newest rooster to the flock. I got rid of my other roosters recently, so I could add him. I'll need him for my breeding project next spring. His name is Pewee and he is a silkie cockerel who has never really been around hens before. He was...

After almost two weeks of careful integration I’ve finally and successfully added my chicks to the rest of my flock. About two weeks ago I moved my 5 week olds to the coop with the rest of my flock, separating a portion with hardware cloth. And during the day they were penned outside after a...

This year will be our first xmas with our new dog, Duchess. Every year we go to my inlaws for breakfast to open gifts, then snack and enjoy each other's company until dinner. We eat dinner, watch a movie and then go home. It is literally an all day affair. There is one issue this year...

So, I have three pullets, ages are around 9-10 months old. They are the following breeds: Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Cream Legbar. For the first 8-9 months of their lives, they were alone, happily cohabiting a crappy pre-fab coop from tractor supply (note: new BIG coop is almost built!). They...

Hi guys...many threads on this forum advise quarantining new chickens before adding to flock. I get that, but not really sure what I'm looking for. I'm generally looking for an overview of how to properly quarantine and monitor new birds. Our chickens are pretty cool so I am more concerned...

I have an adult male and female guinea. I had a small flock but gradually lost a the others over the years. Those two have been alone for a while and while they do fine together, they'd likely do better in a group. I picked up 6 keets and raised them in a brooder, then put them in a temporary...