Adding 2 Started Pullets to Single Hen

[wwin]

Laws have changed here in Long Beach and we're allowed to have more chickens. Between the old laws and an unfortunate hawk attack I've got one lone Barred Rock (lonely, not laying since she lost her friends). My two 4-month-old White Leghorn pullets are due to arrive in a few days along with 2 easter egger chicks. The chicks will be in the garage for a few months so I'm not worried about them yet.

Since our run can easily be separated into two sections I plan to just divide it and keep water/ food in both for a few weeks till the new pullets and the hen get used to each other. My problem is that only one section will have access to the coop. What should I do about night time? Should I try to put some type of divider in and separate it?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I think the lone hen will welcome friends. Birds that age should be quarantined first though.

The chicks will be trickier. I doubt they'll need heat for very long. Are they babies?

 

[wwin]

The chicks will be about 3 to 4 weeks old, I figure I'll keep them in the garage till they are older and the others are settled in then introduce them the same way I do the white leghorns only putting them back in the garage at night.

I don't really have another place to quarantine except the separated part of the run, I was planning on quarantining them there but didn't think through where they would sleep.

 

[animalgrl]

I've done this a couple of times.. do you have a decent sized dog crate? I just separated the pullets in a penned off section of the run and had them sleeping in dog crate at night. I actually made a roost out of two by four cut to fit in the length of the dog carrier and with a couple of pieces of wood screwed under to lift it a few inches and keep them from being in their droppings, but I've also done it without the makeshift roost and they were fine sleeping on the floor of the crate for a couple of weeks. If your run is pretty secure, you can leave the dog crate in the run at night. I did not have a secure run the first time I did this and brought the dog crate with the pullets inside at night. The second time I just left the dog crate in the run at night and closed it up and it was fine. I'm in an urban area with very few predators. Good luck! I'm sure your barred rock will be glad to have some friends!

 

[wwin]

3-week old easter egger chicks and white leghorn point of lay came in today... if you're thinking those look like some pretty young 3-week old chicks you'd be right. Somehow the info that I really needed chicks from the previous hatching didn't get relayed to the person delivering and he grabbed these two little beauties from the new hatching for delivering to me . I've got these gals till he figures out if they have any of the older ones to switch out next week. now I'm scrambling to put together an appropriate and warm enough place for them (I wasn't set up for newborns). I have to admit the $35 delivery charge I paid to get just the birds I wanted hurts even more now.