Adding a new chicken to a very small flock

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Update!

I have two new chicks a barred rock, Nutmeg, and Gold Laced Wyandotte, Pumpkin, who are currently living inside. They are just over a month old and getting feisty and curious. I want to wait until they are about the same size as my current girls before starting the soft introduction. My biggest concern is the new birds are not vaccinated for fowl pox and my other girls have had it. Should I vaccinate the new girls? If so, how and at what age should I do that? Thanks!

Here are some cute new chick pictures:



Nutmeg (left) and Pumpkin (right) explore the bathroom



Nutmeg being a camera hog, but so cute!

Nice pics!

 

[Hishigata]

Sounds like you saved poor Squeakers from being lonely at the store. I used to bring my chickens in to the house at night before I had a coop and it did not interfere with their eventually becoming only outdoor birds. I am not sure what will happen to flock dynamics if you get rid of the noisy hen. I also have a loud bird that I occasionally want to punt across the yard when she barks in the morning. I have started putting her in the bath tub when she is loud and it quiets her down. We call it her time out. She does look unhappy in the white tub all alone but she stops shrieking which makes everyone else happy.

 

[Ivytwilight]

Lol her time out, that made me laugh! I think all my hens need a time out once in awhile. Last night I had to rush out and save poor Squeakers from a full on attack from the two remaining hens. They were doing so well together too, for about two days. I would let her out to forage with them in the evening and they had finally started to move around as a group, but then Furbush decided it was too peaceful. I did end up rehoming the loud hen, Bummy.( She was just too much for us to listen to anymore.) We found a nice older gentleman, who lives slightly further out, and has had chickens for awhile to take her in. He also has a rooster, which will give her something to do I suppose. I was starting to think, that she was thinking she was a rooster I have heard that can happen if you only have hens. The problem now is the two remaining hens that grew up with her call for her for about an hour after they are let out to forage each evening. It is sad to watch them, but I hope after awhile they will calm down and come to terms with the fact she is gone. Who knows, perhaps I am just over thinking things and I simply have the loudest Dominique hens in the world. You'll have to put up more pics of your babies they are just too cute^^

 

[Hishigata]

Sounds like Bummy went to a good home and you finally have some quiet. I still have my loud Lakenvelder. She now gets wrapped in a towel and placed in the tub for time out. The towel makes her fall asleep and when she wakes up the sensory deprivation in the tub keeps her confused and quiet. She barks a lot less now, but tends to hide under the potting bench when the other hen is on the roost. I guess she is just scared when she is alone. We sometimes let her in the kitchen if she is outside alone. She runs right inside as soon as you open the door and makes herself at home eating crumbs on the floor and demanding scraps.

Hopefully Squeakers will get accepted into the group soon. Your hens have had a lot of change, loosing their loud friend and gaining a fluffy new one. Let me know how it progresses. My girls called for their friend that died for about a week before realizing she was gone.

My chicks are just now 7 weeks old. They have one more week of quarantine before being allowed near the other hens. I think we will start with the new hens in a small wire enclosure so they can see their new hen buddies but there can be no fighting. The chicks are still only half the size of my other birds. Eventually they will be bigger than the current birds but they are just wee things at the moment. They do however like to destroy their pen in the house and make it as stinky as possible. I will be happy when they can live outside!

Pictures from the chicks first adventure in the yard. They play in the front yard while the big hens live out back.




Nutmeg and Pepper hear the wind for the first time and are not sure what to make of it.




Nutmeg found her first bug and looks like a tiny dinosaur.

 

[Ivytwilight]

Sadly, I have come to the conclusion I was not meant to add anymore birds to my two existing girls. After some scary attacks and very loud confrontations I, and probably my neighbors ( though they didn't complain) could no longer take the noise of adding Squeakers to the two existing hens. I live out of the city, but have two close neighbors. One used to raise chickens and doesn't care about the noise, but I always try to be a good neighbor. We found her a home with a woman who strangely enough lives very, very close (so did the man who homed Bummy). We must be in the chicken part of Tucson. So, my girls are still very close to me, but not here. I would say for anyone trying to introduce birds to their small flock be ready for A LOT OF CONSTANT NOISE.
I have given up and figure the girls will only have each other, unless we build another coop. I have heard it can take months for chickens to settle down, and I wouldn't be able to handle that volume of unrest or subject my neighborhood to it.
Just the other day I ran into the problem of my one hen laying after I let them out to forage. Her sister was so distraught I had to bring her inside while Furbush was in the coop. She simply wouldn't shut up, but I didn't mind spending the time with her on the couch. I wish you better luck with your introduction to your two birds and hope it goes far better than my attempt! Tell me if you find any tricks for getting them to live together peacefully. You'll have to let us all know if it works!!

Your story about the kitchen reminded me of Furbush. She loves to just walk right in, like she owns the place!

 

[r1forb]

I've been reading through your posts because I have a thread in here "will my hen be too lonely" and I thought your question fit my bill as well. I just wanted to see the "thoughts" on adding one or 2 birds and I can certainly see the benefits of adding 2 birds when you have a small flock. My problem is I only had 2 to begin with....Fred & Ethyl. My Turken Hen & Roo who both just turned 5 mos but for our sanity, & the neighbors, we are having to get rid of Fred before I've had a chance to incubate chicks of another breed, or sadly

get any of Ethyl's chicks as she is not laying yet ....which was always our plan to increase our flock ....so I have 2 and will be down to 1 very soon (my husband says it needs to be "like yesterday" lol) So in my situation I am thinking just one is enough ....I'm already in a tough spot where she will be alone no matter what for about 30 days, other than me spending time with her.
Any thoughts on this particular situation?? I am going to a farm swap meet on Sat. I guess I could get 2 hens from 2 different farms ....meaning they don't know each other ....quarantine them both separately and then introduce all 3 at the same time ??? Only thinking of that in case I bring home only 1 and those 2 hate each other, which would be my luck

.
I will be getting BCM eggs soon so I will have chicks by spring and I don't want a big flock, so I guess I would prefer to only get 1 hen at this time, BUT, I want to do what is best for Ethyl. I took this picture of her today when she was in visiting Fred ....I thought it was so cute! I swear she poses for me now! She is the sweetest thing ever!

 

[Hishigata]

Update: Pumpkin and Nutmeg have unofficially joined the backyard hen group. I used a chicken wired garden protector (made to protect my tomatoes from hungry hens and squirrels) as a pullet pen. The little girls LOVE being outside. They run about and jump on top of rocks and devour the grass in their pen. The established hen group seems not to care about them. I am not sure they realize these chirping birds will one day also be hens.

All interactions are hindered by the wire, but I think that is a good thing. Nutmeg and Pumpkin are still half the size of my other birds. Salt stuck her face in the pen and Nutmeg pecked at her beak otherwise there has been no contact. Salt occasionally stops by to look at them. If the chicks are eating grass, Salt will also eat grass. She lives in a huge grassy yard but has never eaten much of the grass before. It is funny to see her emulate the little birds. Almost like she is trying to one up them by eating more grass. I think I will keep the chicks in their pen until they are closer to the same size as my other birds. Hopefully having seen each other through the wire will make a face to face introduction less stressful. I still bring the chicks in to their indoor house at night to sleep.



Salt observes her tiny friends (not that she is very big herself)



The veggie protector/pullet pen made from old window frames and chicken wire. The top windows open for easy access.

Ivy: Furbush in the kitchen is just like Salt! I even have a similar picture somewhere on my computer. Sorry to hear you had to get rid of Squeakers. At least you saved her from a lonely existence at the store and now she has a good home where she will not be bullied. I have found with only two girls you will need to keep the lone hen company when her friend is laying. My Easter Egger, Pepper, is fine being outside alone but Salt is not happy by herself. It is good to spend quality time with the hens. I usually go out and garden when Pepper is laying. That way Salt has company and we find lots of tasty grub treats (of course we save some for Pepper).

r1forb: Ethyl is very cute. She does look like she is posing, such a cute coy look. I don't see why you could not add one new chicken to a flock with only one existing chicken. As long as the numbers are even it seems to be ok. I guess Ethyl will be lonely without Fred but maybe you two can spend more time together. My chickens seem to like spending time with people just as much as with other chickens. Good luck!

 

[r1forb]

@ Hishigata : yes I think I will try to trade Fred tmrw for just 1 hen about Ethyl's age at the Farm Swap Meet. Fred started crowing this morning non-stop so I brought Ethyl to visit him hoping it would shut him up ...also she seems to get very stressed when he does this and I had just left her. AND for the 1st time in days she was happy & content when I left ....taking her morning bath! Until he started in. So then she started screaming and I thought "ok one last visit before he leaves tmrw" When I brought her to Fred she honestly looked scared to death of him and tried to jump back in my arms! He charged me and I had to kick him off both of us, boy oh boy it was crazy! I think Ethyl and I will both be happy come tmrw and she will be happy as long as I am visiting her lots until her new "friend" can join her in the "Beachside Hut for Chicks" It helped that I woke her this morning with carrots and grapes

Good Luck with all your babies! I'm ordering a Hova Bator today for my BCM eggs

 

[Ivytwilight]

I happened to run into my neighbor from across the street yesterday and he was more than delighted to have eggs from us. Not only that, but he suggested we get a rooster because he enjoys how they sound! So all that worrying about noise for naught!! Grrrrr.
Though, I will say Plouffe and Furbush have been the the calmest and happiest I have seen them in many weeks. They seem to do well with just the two of them. For right now I will have quell my zeal for more chickens

r1forb - I was told that when introducing new chickens to a small flock, or just one bird it might be a good idea to put all the birds in a new place and or space. Chickens don't like new situations, so they will bond with each other over the new circumstances! I didn't get a chance to try that out, but it might be helpful when you do introduce your birds! As for just having two hens, mine are happy as can be with just each other. The only problem I had was the one egg laying incident, in the late afternoon. They are what my husband calls "people chickens" though. They have the whole yard to themselves, but will pace at the screen door until we acknowledge them!

Hishigata- Your chickens are so cute( love all their names) and seem a lot less aggressive than my Dominiques. When they saw Squeakers through the screen door they would jump at her, nails first! The one day I had to keep Plouffe company Furbush didn't lay her egg until 4pm! It was the only day she did that! (They usually lay them between 9am- 1130am) And the day after that neither of them laid an egg, since then I go out in the morning to give them scratch and there have been two eggs in the nesting box. I can only hope they continue on that schedule. They don't make a fuss as long as they are in the run and one is in the coop, laying. The problem that evening was Furbush left Plouffe in the yard after I let them out to forage. And boy was she not pleased!
Furthermore I am envious of your green grass!!

Plouffe being a very pretty desert chicken! She likes to show off!

 

[Hishigata]

Update:
After a week in the pullet pen I decided to let the little girls meet the big hens. Pumpkin and Nutmeg (currently nicknamed Nutter for her flighty antics) were released into the yard while Pepper was in laying her egg and Salt was hunting for bugs in the compost. It was a bit anticlimactic. Salt was more interested in food than new friends and for the most part ignored the new chickens. The little girls ran around and explored in the garden. Eventually they met up with Salt, who did not like them messing in her food area, and chased them away. This pretty much defines all their interactions. The little girls flap and dash around until they run into the big hens, who seem confused by all the flapping and chirping. Usually the big hens respond by make intimidating lunges and fluffing their necks. This usually gets the little hens to squeak and flutter away leaving the big girls in peace. Occasionally Pumpkin will blast right by Pepper and Salt almost like she is trying to playing with them. The bigger hens just look nonplussed when this happens.

Overall, a successful introduction. I plan to have a week of combined outdoor time with observation and wait on coop sharing. The little hens are still on pullet developer and live inside at night. They look so tiny compared to the other girls, I feel like it will be a while before they can hold their own.

Ivy: Great picture of Plouffe! Your chickens have very interesting names. How did you come up with them?
Laying after 4 is pretty late. I find my girls have a wide range of times when they will lay. Sometimes really early sometimes not until after 3pm but rarely later. It is nice when they lay at around the same time, that way no one is lonely but it rarely works out that way. Let me know how it goes with just the current duo.

r1forb: Did you find a good home for Fred? How is Ethyl liking being a single girl?