Add one hen or buy two chicks?

[Silvie]

I’m new to chickens. Currently have five 12-week-old babies, and one is definitely a roo. I’m getting ready to sell him on Craigslist, and want to replace him with another hen or two.

I really love my Orpington, and I’d love to get another, but there aren’t any Orpington pullets or hens that I can find on Craigslist near me. If I wanted an Orpington, I’d have to get chicks. And I really don’t want one lonely baby chick, so I’d need to get two.

I would be okay with a non-Orpington pullet since I already have a mixed flock, but I was researching that I’d need to quarantine the new bird for a month before integrating. I’m worried they would be lonely, and also worried that I wouldn’t know how to properly care for it.

Is there one way that is easier/better? Or should I just stick with the four I have?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It's always best to add chicks to a flock to lessen the risks of introducing diseases, and other things that can come with older birds. Those from a hatchery are the safest source.

It's never a good idea to add just one bird as it will always be on the outskirts.

 

[Silvie]

It's always best to add chicks to a flock to lessen the risks of introducing diseases, and other things that can come with older birds. Those from a hatchery are the safest source.

It's never a good idea to add just one bird as it will always be on the outskirts.

That’s good to know! I definitely had my suspicions given the fact that chickens are so social. I would feel so bad for the lone chicken.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I’m new to chickens. Currently have five 12-week-old babies, and one is definitely a roo. I’m getting ready to sell him on Craigslist, and want to replace him with another hen or two.

I really love my Orpington, and I’d love to get another, but there aren’t any Orpington pullets or hens that I can find on Craigslist near me. If I wanted an Orpington, I’d have to get chicks. And I really don’t want one lonely baby chick, so I’d need to get two.

I would be okay with a non-Orpington pullet since I already have a mixed flock, but I was researching that I’d need to quarantine the new bird for a month before integrating. I’m worried they would be lonely, and also worried that I wouldn’t know how to properly care for it.

Is there one way that is easier/better? Or should I just stick with the four I have?

If you get adults, you would need (probably) two anyways because it is way better to introduce them together.

 

[Mrs. K]

You know - I think you would be best to just keep what you have. Get some experience. It is rather hard to believe how much more these birds will grow, it might be a lot better to be understocked that over stocked, as over crowding causes a lot of problems.

Also - I don't think it is a good idea to have all of your chickens the same age - a few weeks will not matter in the long run. Chickens often are not real long lived, so it is good to add a couple each year, and eventually you may have to let some go.

But I would wait, adding new birds takes some experience, it can be a real wreck, with a victim taking some awful beatings.

Mrs K

 

[Pghelp]

You could certainly stay with what you have but if you decide to add it's worth considering purchasing a couple of juveniles near the ages of your current birds. Some hatcheries will sell individual juvenile birds and you have more of a guarantee of the sex. I would still get at least 2 so you don't have one lonely stranger to integrate and you would still need to isolate for bio-security. Getting the juveniles would be much easier than raising baby chicks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also - I don't think it is a good idea to have all of your chickens the same age - a few weeks will not matter in the long run. Chickens often are not real long lived, so it is good to add a couple each year, and eventually you may have to let some go.

Also if egg production matters to you, keep in mind that hens have their highest production the first 2 years and will start to slow down after that. If it's important to you to keep having eggs, best to space out your flock with 1-2 years between chicks so there's always younger hens to lay reliably.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is there one way that is easier/better? Or should I just stick with the four I have?

I don't know your goals for having chickens. Why do you want them to start with? What are your plans for two to four years down the road? Things hardly ever work out as planned but you need that visions so you know what to plan for. What do your facilities look like, coop and run, and how will you manage them? Do you have restrictions on how many you are allowed? There are a lot of different unknowns for me to be able to answer your question about whether you should stick with what you have or get more, either now or later. What you do should depend in your goals and desires, not my personal preferences, but some of the above posters have raised some valid points.

Are you capable of doing a proper quarantine? Most of us are not. Diseased and parasites can spread through chickens sharing food or water dishes, from pecking where others have pooped, through vectors like mosquitoes or grasshoppers, and even floating in the air. You can track diseases or parasites from one flock to the other by using the same bucket to carry feed or water or on your clothing, especially shoes. The more you can isolate them the better your quarantine. It's hard to stop mosquitoes and the wind but only a few diseases are transmitted that way. A partial quarantine is better than none, maybe you can identify certain diseases, just not all.

Flocks can develop flock immunities. That's where they can host a disease or parasite but not be affected by it. It could be your current flock as easily as the flock the chicken is coming from. That makes quarantine more tricky. If a chicken has that flock immunity no matter how long you quarantine it you may never see any symptoms. If it gets sick that may be because it came into contact with your chickens. I you can do a decent quarantine it's worth doing but it is not an absolute guarantee.

Chicks straight from a hatchery should be about as safe as they can be. Hatcheries are about as up on biosecurity as they can be. I trust them. However others that hatch chicks at home may not practice topnotch biosecurity. I do not consider those as safe as hatchery chicks.

Another possible issue if getting hatchery chicks is that most hatcheries will not sell only two. They generally have minimums. Maybe you could fined a neighbor willing to split an order. You can order chicks from a hatchery sexed, most of us can't sex newly hatched chicks.

This sounds insurmountable. It probably is if you have zero tolerance to risk. Many of us bring in chicks or even older birds all the time. If the flock they are coming from has been "closed" (that means not introduced to strange birds for a couple of months) they have essentially been in quarantine provided the owner would tell you of any problems. Just because a chick or chicken might possibly be infected with something doesn't mean they are. Many of the things they c an bring over are more nuisances that can be dealt with rather than something that will destroy your flock. My suggestion is to manage this to meet your goals being a cautious as you reasonably can.

I don't know what your facilities look like so i don't know how hard integrating one or two older birds may be versus integrating chicks. Regardless of age it's usually better to integrate more than one at a time. The more room you have the better. In general integrating older birds can be a little more violent but it is usually over much quicker. We do it both ways, you can too.

I hope I haven't scared you off from adding to your flock when it meets your goals, whether now or a year or two down the road. We do it all the time, you can too. Accept that there can be risks and learn how to manage those as best you can.