Adding four new chickens to one established girl

[HipEMama]

First a little background. Several weeks ago the neighbors wolfdog decimated my small flock. The dog mauled four chickens leaving on lucky (and lonely) lady- (an araucana) . That was two weeks ago. We had been on the fence about how/when to add more chickens. Then we heard a friend of a friend was looking to re-home her four ladies (a white Orpington, RIR, Araucana,and Dominique). We plan to take custody of the chickens this week.

Here is my question. What is the best way to introduce these ladies to my remaining chicken? I am trying to anticipate how bad the pecking order establishment will be. I am not so worried about the new ladies, My girl can't peck them all at once, but I am worried that they will all gang up on her. Will the fact that they are coming on to her turf make any difference at all? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[sourland]

They will be the newcomers in HER house. She should be able to more than hold her own. Do you plan on quarantining the new chickens?

 

[HipEMama]

That is good to hear. In terms of quarantining them We have a small run that they can use during the day. I will need to come up with something at night. We have never added more than two chickens at a time before, and they slept in a large pet carrier at night during quarantine.

How long should I keep them apart? I already met the chickens and them seem healthy- no obvious conditions or red flags. They are a small backyard flock- just the four of them.

 

[sourland]

Personally, given the circumstances and known environment on the new hens, I would only separate them a minimal period of time - until they had settled down in the new environment. Would such a practice guarantee no problems? No, but given their known history and isolation from other birds, I, personally, would chance it. Auction birds or birds from an unknown source would be a differet story. Good luck.