Adding to existing flock

[SMonroe1990]

This may not be the right place to post this, but I want a little bit of advice before I do anything. I am thinking about ordering five more chicks to add to my five Easter Eggers. Would I be better off ordering five of the same breed? How well do Easter Eggers do when it comes to adding new flock members? I was thinking about getting 2 black australorps, 1 light brahma, 1 silver laced wyandotte, and 1 delaware. If ordering five of the same or even 2 of one and 3 of another breed is going to be less stressful then that is what I will do. If it doesn't matter either way then I will stick with what I've decided to order. Any advice would be helpful.

Also, not relevant to this at all, is anyone has any advice on how to keep bees from making nests in the chicken coop that would be helpful, and anything on dealing with spiders also. I've noticed some wasps circling the chicken coop as I am fixing it up and painting and am just trying to figure out how to prevent them from building their nests.

 

[Mrs. K]

Although some breeds are gentler than others, and some birds are more aggressive than others of their same breed, I dont' see anything wrong in the mix you are suggesting.

I would be more concerned with size of the birds. You did not state how old your current flock is..... mixing bigger birds with smaller birds is almost always a pretty big problem, much more of a problem than mixing different breeds.

Mrs K

 

[SMonroe1990]

my current flock is about 4 weeks old. I would wait until they were close to the same size and then probably use, what I guess is referred to as, the playpen method. I was not planning on putting chicks I got right in with my 4 week girls. I've just read some things on here saying that some chickens will go after others because they are different looking. Wasn't sure if this was the same with EE's since from what I've seen they all tend to feather out in different colors anyway. Thank you for your help Mrs. K.

 

[Mrs. K]

some colors will hang together...... kind of, sort a..... some birds do hang together, cause they are more like friends within the flock, sometimes they are similarly colored..... however, I have a single white bird at this time, and she is always with the flock......

When birds pick on a integration bird, it is the stranger not the color that they are going for....... generally speaking.

Glad to be of help, think you have a reasonable plan, and that you won't have a problem.

Mrs K

 

[SMonroe1990]

Thank you so much for all your help. This is my first time having chickens and I have done so much research, but there is always some things that I like to have opinions on. I was going to wait until next year to add them and then my thinking brain came to some sort of conclusion that if they were closer in age and maybe only a month apart that it might be easier in the end.

 

[SMonroe1990]

So just an update. My bigger girls spent their first night in the coop last night. I am so excited because I have 6 chicks coming next week! I cannot wait! These next couple days are going to go by slowly I think.

 

[DianaMallory]

Your flock is probably young enough to add to without the pecking order being a problem. I would still use the slow process of integrating them. I went through a mess trying to get an older flock to accept each other. You need to brood your babies as close to the older flock as you can without them having any direct contact with each other, and once out of the brooder they need to side by side for awhile with a barrier between them. Once your babies are big enough to hold their own, against the older chicks, then you put them on the roost at night with the older chicks and remove the barriers and pray for the best. There is an article here I believe in the learning center on this subject, I suggest you go read it. It helped me a lot. And will I ever do it again? That is a big NO! And besides the pecking order you did make sure that your coop is big enough to add more birds didn't you? Good luck!

 

[DianaMallory]

try reading this, but I know I read a more detailed article on this I will keep looking for you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks

 

[kayleen]

How do I stop my year old hens from attacking my 16 week old pullets? They have been in side by side coops for about 12 weeks. We have opened the shared door and let them intermingle quite a bit but the hens still won't accept the young ones.

 

[lazy gardener]

How long has it been, and how many in each age group, and how big is your coop and run?