Adding to my flock

[thiebert]

I currently have a few different breeds of birds: 1 D'uccle, 2 jungle fowl, 5 Barred Rock, 5 Colombian Rock, 3 silkies, 1 Easter egger. They are all happy in my coop. This spring I want to add more variety. Am I crazy? Lol. I would like some sizzles, orpingtons, wyandottes & ameraucanas. (23 more birds) will they mix well? Is there anything I should know? I'm new to this and want to make sure I'm doing things properly. I am getting them as chicks and will be keeping them in a separate area until they are at least 6 weeks old.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Do you have enough room to happily support all the extras you want to add, be careful when mixing bantam and large breeds, a few can get along but once the flock size increases the bantam can be picked on. Mixing breeds isn't a problem as most get along with each other fine, you have to be careful when adding just one of something unusual as they can become a target, breeds like polish can become targets if there's only one of them. And some game breeds can be trouble. I have all kinds of different breeds and enjoy trying new ones, I do maintain two coops, one for my bantam and another for my large breeds

 

[azygous]

It should be no problem adding to your flock as long as there's plenty of space to accommodate the numbers (10 square feet of run space per).

The absolute best way to introduce chicks to a flock is simply to brood them right in with the adults. That way the chicks are accepted into the flock by proximity.

I used the heating pad system of brooding, and added two small batches of chicks this past year by brooding them in a safe pen right out in my enclosed run. It worked out beautifully and it was a breeze to integrate them. They were mingling successfully with the flock at age three weeks and living and roosting in the coop by five weeks. By six weeks, when other house-reared chicks are just going out to the coop, mine were going into the coop all by themselves and roosting with the adults.

You can read up on the heating pad system on "Mama Heating Pad for the Brooder" thread on the "Raising Baby Chicks" forum.

 

[aart]

You need lots of room and 2 coop sections like azygous uses:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224