Adding to flock

[gmomfarms]

My girls are 11 to 13 weeks old. I have purchased two vaccinated Buff Orpington pullets, 10 weeks to add to them so I will have 10 layers. How is the best way to introduce them. When I added the two 11 week old pullets to the others, I tried to isolate them in the coop until everyone got used to each other. They were master escape artists and I finally gave up. They were bullied some, but not injured. I moved a cockrell from my cull pen in with the girls (they brooded together) because he was being bullied by the other cockrells and the girls attacked him and drew blood. Now I am wanting the introduction of the new girls to go as calmly as possible with no blood drawn. It is better to put them in when everyone is asleep or put them in the coop after the girls have gone outside and then just try to keep an eye on them. More experienced help wanted as I'm sure it will come up again when I determine who isn't a good layer by next spring as they will be culled and more Buff's or Easter Eggers added.
My coop can easily handle 14 birds.

 

[Farmer Viola]

I just (3 days ago) introduced 3 new 16-week pullets to my existing 7 16-week pullets. They are from the same origin and have the same hatch date. They have integrated quite nicely with my girls in a very short amount of time

You will find a lot of people will tell you that it is necessary to quarantine the new birds for 4 weeks in their own separate coop (do you have two coops? I don't) to make sure they don't have diseases that will spread to your flock. I did not do this. My pullets are all from the same place, and since they will free range together, diseases would spread right quick anyhow.

People will also recommend you keep them in a cage inside/near the existing flock's coop so that they can see each other before they are able to meet physically. I read 2-4 weeks for this stage. Again, I did not do this.

I gave my 3 new girls a bath first. I inspected them for lice and other bugs. I looked at their poop to see if appeared seemed diseased (it didn't). Then they had treats. I introduced them to my existing flock while they were free ranging with mixed reactions. I stayed close the whole time so I could witness their behavior. There was some squabbling, especially the first day, but nothing TOO violent. As long as they are not injuring each other or drawing blood, human intervention is not required; let them work it out.

I expected them to fight much more than they did, the whole thing was really quite tame. I noticed the 3 girls keeping together in a pack on the first day. The 3 new girls didn't go inside the hen house when it was time for bed (they were asleep on the ground? seems odd, I thought they would at least choose one of the roosts), so we waited until the existing flock was asleep and then we put the new girls inside the house with them. On night 2, they went in for bed time with the flock on their own.

On day 2 and 3, the new girls are no longer keeping in a separate pack and just walk among my girls freely. One of the 3 is clearly near the bottom of the pecking order, so she is a bit skittish around the Boss Chicken, but other than that it was incredibly easy and non-eventful.

This is just my anecdotal experience; I am really new to chicken farming and I can't say that my methods will work perfectly for you. Good luck!

 

[TofuKat]

We're going through something similar, so it will be interesting to see what others experienced. We have 8 larger pullets (hatched in late March/early April), 4 that are a little younger, and 6 that are even younger (though fully feathered). We've spent the last two days watching for any blood to be drawn...so far so good, but our fingers are crossed.

What's the general length of time for the integration to occur? Well, at least for some peace to happen? Right now we're still in the chasing and pecking phase and it's getting old!

 

[JNB]

When I first started raising chickens a "few" years ago.. I had some RIR girls that were brutal.... just awful to everyone even the girls that they grew up with. When I adopted 4 other RIR I did everything I was told to do to inter grate them into the flock. Everything was fine for about a week... Then one morning I went out and found 2 of the new girls dead and the other 2 hiding. One in a "safe house" I had left in the run the other under a large dish that had been flipped upside down I felt so awful. I spent a huge amount of time nursing the wounds of the two remaining girls. I probably should have put the one out of her misery but guilt and being a new chicken owner I kept her as a house chicken for quite a long time

Anyways the reason I shared all that was to say that no matter what precautions we try and do Sometimes temperament just wins out and they can surprise you
I also learned that a little pecking and squabbling is normal chicken behavior. Sometime they will draw a little poke of blood pull a few feathers. That's also normal and OK. They are just establishing the coop order. Sometimes this is done in a few hours other times it can go on for a month or so.

A couple of tricks I use that seem to work for me. I put the new birds in a dog crate and put them in the coop/ run. Everyone gets a chance to meet and great with a safe barrier.

When I do add the new birds to the coop I usually do so at night. When everyone is sleeping and roosting. Waking up all together seems to make the girls more friendly

 

[gmomfarms]

The two new girls spent the day in the run in a large dog crate with their own food and water. There was lots of peeking at each other. As it was getting dusk, all the big girls went in the coop except the other Buff and the Olive egger. They are only about a week and a half older than the newer Buffs. I closed the coop and let the two new girls out for a while to see how they would do with others. The two older girls are the least dominate, least aggressive of the flock and they were pretty rough on the new gals. I don't know what will happen when the rest of them meet. They are back in their crate for the night and if it stays cool again tomorrow, I will leave them in it in the run again. I dont want them injured.

 

[newpioneer75]

Best of luck to you and your new girls.

 

[gmomfarms]

Yesterday the babies got a pen within the run and a pen within the coop. Things went well until today and I came home to find one had escaped into the run and was being terrorized. I hung an apple cored and stuffed with peanut butter, oats, and pumpkin seed and a hot stick in two locations to see if that would distract the big girls, but not a chance. The babies are back in the dog cage for now.