Adding new birds to a flock?

[JennaLynn122]

I have 7 RIR hens and a GLW roo.
I want to get at least one silkie maybe 2 and I am getting ready to inc. some eggs from my current flock. How would I introduce them? Would introducing adults be different than chicks/pullets? If so how? And When do I introduce chicks/pullets?


I know I have lots of ?????

 

[broodyhen2]

It is best to introduce them at night when they can't really see eachother

 

[JennaLynn122]

It is best to introduce them at night when they can't really see eachother

Do you just kinda stick them in there and hope for the best? And how old would you put a chick in with them?

 

[broodyhen2]

When you put them in at night and when you go let them out in the morning watch them
There will nearly always be a small amount of pecking. If they draw blood immediately seperate the new one and when she is healed try again. This can take a while. If u have a rooster he will stop the pecking and there would be no problems
I'm not quite sure what age to introduce them
They must be fully feathered though

 

[JennaLynn122]

When you put them in at night and when you go let them out in the morning watch them
There will nearly always be a small amount of pecking. If they draw blood immediately seperate the new one and when she is healed try again. This can take a while. If u have a rooster he will stop the pecking and there would be no problems
I'm not quite sure what age to introduce them
They must be fully feathered though

Thank you.

 

[broodyhen2]

No problem

 

[3chickchicks]

The pullets need to be old enough to defend themselves. More experienced members could tell you the right age for that.

 

[aart]

I have 7 RIR hens and a GLW roo.
I want to get at least one silkie maybe 2 and I am getting ready to inc. some eggs from my current flock. How would I introduce them? Would introducing adults be different than chicks/pullets? If so how? And When do I introduce chicks/pullets?


I know I have lots of ?????

Quote:
Risky business, but it can work...especially if you a have a large coop and/or free range so the newcomers can run away and/or hide.

Better, I think, to house them next to each other but physically separated with chicken wire for a couple weeks so they can see and get used to each other before physically integrating....that's for adult birds, chicks are another story and should be close to full grown before attempting to integrate in most cases.

Lots of different ways to do it, do some reading...advanced search is great for finding info/experiences already posted.
advanced search>titles only>integration

Good Luck!

 

[JennaLynn122]

Risky business, but it can work...especially if you a have a large coop and/or free range so the newcomers can run away and/or hide.

Better, I think, to house them next to each other but physically separated with chicken wire for a couple weeks so they can see and get used to each other before physically integrating....that's for adult birds, chicks are another story and should be close to full grown before attempting to integrate in most cases.

Lots of different ways to do it, do some reading...advanced search is great for finding info/experiences already posted.
advanced search>titles only>integration

Good Luck!

I was wondering with the pullets. If I let them just roam around with them and slowly add thing that they do in the coop if that would work? Like if they get along in the open for a while, then add them in to the run and watch them...

 

[cassmama]

What is your yard/set up like? We have a paddock system with different yards surrounding a central coop, so what we did is stuck our chicks who are now about 9wks and fully feathered into a smaller coop/run structure we have inside one of the yards. When the weather is nice we will let them out to their yard while the big girls and rooster are in the adjacent yard so they are separated by a fence. then we will put them into the big coop at night and the next morning let them out together into a different yard altogether, supposedly itll be like neutral territory for all the birds.

This is however our first shot at adding new birds since we got our rooster. When we got him, we didnt know anything and just put him in with our girls in the day and they hit it off lol