I am going to be acquiring one 12 week old silkie. I already have a small flock of 7 week old chicks. How is the best way to go about integrating them? Also, the chicks have been in their new coop and run for about a week now and they still have to be placed inside the henhouse at nightfall as they are not using the ramp by themselves. Thanks for your responses.
Hey there Sonic Pug! The standard response here seems to be along these lines: 1) quarantine for at least 30 days 2) put the newbie in a seperate run/coop where they can all see and hear each other for a bit (avg. 2 weeks) I've also seen to add the new bird at night with the possibility that everyone will get up in the AM and think they just didn't notice her before. The consensus seems to be that size, not age is the major factor. It would likely be recommended that they get closer in size before integrating. Another thread I read suggested that adding more than just one newbie at a time worked best - less chance of one new kid getting picked on. Sorry to give you such ambiguity, but hope some of it helps!