Adding new hens, preventative worming?

[tribemama]

I have 2 two year old hens we have had a few weeks and we have 4 five week old pullets. We will be moving the pullets to the big coop in a few weeks and then placing the hens in their small coop and run inside the big run so they can get to know one another before they can reach each other.

Should I worm the big girls before placing them in with the babies to make sure no one has worms? Is there any reason to treat both groups with Corid before putting them in the same area? Should this be done as a preventative measure?

I just want to be sure all 6 stay well, we know how we will integrate, but worms and cocci are things I want to watch out for.

Thanks!

 

[jk47]

I wouldn't give corid to them unless theres a problem and for worming I would wait for the 5 week olds to be on the ground for at least a month because they wont have worms if thete from the brooder and then you can worm the whole group

 

[aart]

Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

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. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


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 blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, 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 and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock