Adding More Chickens to Existing Flock

[Sallimom]

I have a flock of six, three Rhode Island Reds and three Buff Orpingtons. I want to add three or four more young adults this fall. How do I go about introducing the new hens?
Will the new chickens eventually be accepted into my existing flock?
Is there anything I should do to ensure minimal fighting?
My existing chickens are about ready to go through their first molt. Will this be a problem?
My chickens free range during the day and are put up in their coop at night. If necessary, I have a second smaller coop I can set up to help with the introduction.
Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Lovem all]

Hi! I can help and it's going to be fairly simple. So have a barriers set up in the coop and keep the young ones in there so the big girls can see them but not touch. Have them in the see no touch way for about 3 days and then during the day in the morning when you go about your normal chores and open it up and let them join the big girls. The pecking order will look scary but I swear it's not as bad as it looks. If they seem excessive you can put the young ones in a see no touch area at night for like five days then take that see no touch area away. They'll work themselves out and eventually will mix like a well oiled flock.

 

[DobieLover]

I have a flock of six, three Rhode Island Reds and three Buff Orpingtons. I want to add three or four more young adults this fall. How do I go about introducing the new hens?
Will the new chickens eventually be accepted into my existing flock?
Is there anything I should do to ensure minimal fighting?
My existing chickens are about ready to go through their first molt. Will this be a problem?
My chickens free range during the day and are put up in their coop at night. If necessary, I have a second smaller coop I can set up to help with the introduction.
Any tips or advice will be greatly appreciated!

A successful integration requires lots of time, space and resources.
How much space is in your coop in sq ft? How many linear feet of roost?
How old are the RIR and BOs?
What breeds are you looking to introduce and of what age? Raising sexed chicks in a built-in brooder with full visibility to the older flock is the second easiest way of expanding your flock.
Where are you getting these pullets? It is highly recommended that you quarantine new comers to make sure you aren't introducing disease or parasites into your current flock. A true quarantine has the new birds down wind and about 500' away from your current flock. If you free range, a true quarantine would be difficult but an isolation period to watch for disease and housing them separately is still a good idea.
After a 30 day quarantine/isolation period, you would proceed with a "look don't touch" set up for several days while everyone gets used to the other. After about 5 days of this, I would release the new comers first to free range and get to know where things are. Then let out the original flock and monitor.
It will take time before the birds form a cohesive flock. For quite while, you will see two sub-flocks intermingling.

 

[aart]

Good questions from @DobieLover .

Here's some (more and maybe redundant) tips about.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/