Adding new chickens to an existing flock

[Amina]

I recently added one pullet to my existing flock of 4 hens. The pullet was about full-size when I added her. It was definitely very hard to watch all the chasing and pecking, but it ended up turning out ok after a few weeks. What I did was provide hiding places for my pullet. One thing that I did was provide a tarp that blocked the view of one corner so the pullet could hide behind it. One end of the tarp was laid across the ground in the run, too, so when the hens got too vicious, the pullet would go underneath the tarp to hide. I also ended up having one bully hen that was a lot worse than the others, so I separated the bully from the flock for a week. When I put her back, she had a much better attitude. If you have multiple bullies, you can separate one of them from the flock at a time and adjust their attitudes sequentially.

 

[Knowon Special]

Once again, such good advice and information here . . . for me, it is fascinating because I tend to forget that each and every one on this forum has a unique circumstance and set up!

I'm meeting with the wonderful BYC friend IndigoChicken12 who was looking for someone to re-home their little EE hen - she will come to her new home on Saturday (her and another friend whom I'm joyfully anticipating to be the broody for the eggs I need hatched

Anyway, in anticipation of the "new" girls I wanted to ask and see if there were any recommendations / additional suggestions to what I plan:

My current little flock (2 senior Turken / Naked Neck hens, 2 one year old RIR hens and 1 one year old RIR rooster) of 5 are truly free range. I have no coop, no "run", no chicken tractor, no enclosure of any sort. They have about 4 acres (minus the inside of the house) to roam and do!

At night, they go into the barn (it is sheltered but not able to be totally closed up) and roost on the top rail of the stall for the miniature Jersey cow


As you can see, they rule not only their roost but also take over the little cow's stall when she goes out for the day to graze. The RIR's are always the longest at the feed pan and the Turken girls are always first into the nest boxes for daily eggs

I will be preparing a "quarantine" area just on the outside of the barn wall you see in this picture, which will be covered to keep the new girls from flying out/over, will have a high night roost for them and shelter / shade, and of course, separate food and water. However, because mine are 100% free range, I cannot totally "isolate" the new girls from my 5. So I'm wondering, will this be sufficient separation to be effective for the reason of the "quarantine"? Or will it defeat that purpose because they can still come in contact through the wire? So, that the only real purpose it will likely serve is to keep my original 5 from being mean to the new girls?

If it is not going to work as intended, do I need to keep the girls inside my house for a couple of weeks? Longer? or at all?

Once I get past the quarantine issue, and I want to slowly integrate them with the rest of the flock, since they are always "out" and free range, how do you suggest I introduce the new girls to the roosting area for the night? Shall I wait til dark and take the new girls and place them on the roost rail so they can "wake up" all together? Do I need to keep the new girls confined in the area of the barn where the roosting area is for a couple of days so they will know to come back there at night?

/sigh I really want everyone to be happy and get along

OR am I really over thinking this and need to just "go with it"??

thanks!

 

[fieldarcher]

Hi
Read all this but still confused,
I have 3 girls but we have found that 2 eggs/day is not enough. I would like to add 2 POL girls. My chickens free range all day and coop at night, would it be ok to intro the new girls into the coop while the others are locked out then let the others in slowly?

 

[AnnieSantiago]

I'm about ready to toss in the towel and get rid of my two older girls.
The EE and the Speckled Suffex are best friends but they bully my two younger hens horribly.
I feel so sorry for the little RIR hen - seems she can't breathe without getting pecked by one of the older ones.

It's hard to watch - just not sure what to do.
Maybe I'll try separating each of them out for a few days and see what happens.

 

[Amina]

I think you've got the right idea about separating out your two older girls separately for a few days. Good luck!

 

[jennjune26]

HI
we have 4 week old chicks. we have three 1 yr old hens. our run and coop are not that large. we used to let them range all day but in two months we lost four of our girls.
it was heartbreaking. we have a fox family nearby it seems.
when can we put them outside? when can we let the older girls mingle with them. they will all be in the run together.
thanks

 

[Amina]

4 weeks is too young to mingle with 1 year olds. You should really wait until the chicks are similar in size (maybe 2/3rds the size) to the adults.

That being said, I have been known to put 7 week olds with my flock, with success. Here is my method:

For at least a week (I start this when they are 6 weeks old), I put them in a covered dog exercise pen inside the run. During that week, they will work out the pecking order and the adults will let them know who is boss. The young ones will inevitably stick their heads out between the bars, and get pecked. But they can always pull their heads back in where it is safe. Then after a week, I let the adults free range for an hour or so while I open up the exercise pen. This gives the newbies a chance to explore the whole coop and run area, so they know where the food and water is, and where they can go to escape the adults. Once I think they have explored enough, I get the adults back inside the run (they come running when I shake a cup of scratch grains), and they all mingle. I supervise this part very closely, and stand right there with them for at least an hour, so that I can assess how it's working out. Specifically, if any blood is drawn (my flock has never drawn blood), I would remove the newbies and try again when they are older. Or if they were being cornered and ganged up on, I would remove them. That hasn't happened to me with my current flock, but it depends on how aggressive your flock is.

 

[rboeck]

So I have year old hens in the coop now and just brought home same age and size hens. Can I try to integrate them this weekend or do I truly need to wait the few weeks quarantine?

 

[aart]

So I have year old hens in the coop now and just brought home same age and size hens. Can I try to integrate them this weekend or do I truly need to wait the few weeks quarantine?

It's up to you, depends on the financial and/or emotional risk you want to take.
Depending on where you already put those new birds in relation to your existing flock, quarantine may already be moot.

Consider biological/medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

I would at least look them over very carefully for external parasites,
best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.
Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).
Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.
Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

If you do find some...check out this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1134783/permethrin-spray

 

[aart]

From @rboeck 's ovation comment: "Thanks! I spread DE along the floor of the coop as well so hoping that helps."

DE will not do one bit of good to help if new birds come in with disease and/or external parasites.