We originally started off with three chicks and lost one in the first couple weeks. Our girls are now 7 weeks old (araucauna and silver laced wyandotte) So, my husband goes out for chick feed and comes home with a 5 week old pullet, given to him by the shop owner as the very last of their spring chicks who convinced him she would be fine. Our coop is the perfect size for three, but I'm concerned about the age difference and adding the new girl to the flock. The coop isn't very conducive to being sectioned off, but there is enough room for the older two to avoid the younger. Am I going to be dealing with a blood bath if I just introduce the new girl right off the bat? I seem to be seeing very different opinions on the matter on the boards. Does anyone have a similar experience and words of advice? Right now, they're all hanging out in the run together, and the Silver Laced has been a little aggressive when she's too close (puffing up her neck) while the arauacana just runs away from her.
here's my experience with intro'ing new birds. i just this past saturday introduced three 17-week old speckled sussex to our flock of 6 15-week old barred rocks and buff orps. i tried the "throw them in" approach to let them sort it out, but it was getting ugly, so i separated them by partitioning off the run and coop where they have their space and the old girls have their space. it's getting better. when they're in the yard together, there is only a small amount of chasing and no pecking that i've seen. they still won't let them eat at the same feeder, so the new girls have their own feeder and waterer still, but the pecking and chasing have gotten better. they even roosted together two nights ago.
