Add 2 month old pullets to year old hens?

[emtoothfxr]

We have three fun, close-knit year old hens. They have been together all of their lives and recently their fourth "sister" passed away. We would like to get 2 Barred Rocks to add to our crop but they are only about 2 months old. Do we need to keep them separate until they start laying? Are the older hens going to bully the younger ones?

Thanks in advance for input.

Dora, Jicama, and Jemima's mom

 

[jtr]

maybe put them by each other in diffrent pens so they get used to eachother and yes they will bully because the new pecking order

 

[mandelyn]

Yes, they will bully them. The question is, how severely. At 2 months old, they will run and hide. They will move away as soon as an older one gets near. Will the hens continue to chase, continue to peck when they're trying to hide... there's usually one who will. 4 months old is a better age to start an introduction. 2 months is just too little and weak. If you have a place to grow them out in, that will also provide the time for a quarantine period as well to see if they may be sick before adding them to the flock.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Good advice

 

[DinosRBirds]

probably just introduce them and see how they act together. any sign of violence , get them out.

 

[SassyKat6181]

I let my 9 month olds see and hear the 12 weeks olds through a fence and just this past week put them all in the run together. The little ones gets pecked every now and then, but nothing major. They also have plenty of room to get away from the big girls.

 

[justtoni44]

I have a cage my husband put together with chicken wire.
We put this inside the coop for the younger ones until they get use to each other......
I agree thata little older it is better..............
And by the way.............

 

[Cosmopolis Chick]

I took the two sides of a totally ruined baby crib - just the sides - and made a baby chick pen in one corner of the chicken run.
I pressed one piece up firmly to the corner, more or less equally, and against the ground.
Wired it onto the walls of the run with baling wire. Added the second crib side over that one
and wired it too. Looks like he11 but I have two hens that are quite aggressive.

Bonus, besides somewhere to be safe, it is also where I put the chick feeder with the chick crumbles
(and a 4" deep pan of water). My old girls think baby food is so MUCH better than layer pellets.

This is just temporary. I put the babies in at 5 weeks old. It took 3 evenings of shooing them into the coop for
safe sleeping, now they go in at night right behind the hens. Within 2 1/2 weeks they are now exploring the run at will.

At first I had to SHOO them out of the coop each morning but once I realized if I don't put
food & water inside the coop they WILL come out, they did. Each morning they come out about 30 seconds
behind the hens and run the gauntlet to the baby pen.

It is a PIA to fill the chick baby food feeder. After un-wiring the lower panel twice I just grabbed a short
length of 2" PVC pipe and a funnel and I just shoot the food through the side of the run.

I think when they can't fit through the crib bars they can just act like chickens and live with the old biddies all the time.

 

[emtoothfxr]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! I think we will probably get slightly older birds. I can just see our "leader" hen dive-bombing the poor young girls. I will keep shopping. I'm just so excited to get them that it's hard to wait.

 

[mandelyn]

Yes it's VERY hard to wait. I'm expecting an order of ducklings at the end of the month, but bought two baby call ducklings to hold me over. Then bought hatching eggs too that will hatch a couple days before the ducklings get here. Gives me a great reason to build a duck specific brooder since the baby chickens will need the current brooder. LOL. Lowes, here I come. Again.

When shopping, make sure you go to the actual place and not meet up somewhere, you always want to see the conditions they're coming out of and the condition of the other birds around. But even a clean coop can have illness, listen for breathing, sneezing, check their butts for bugs, ect.