Adding two hens to my flock of 8

[Nanili]

That is how I would do it, however, sometimes the original groups will split, with one or two of the birds just violently objecting to this introduction. You might pull them for a day or two.

I do have a lot of clutter in my run, and I recently got a single pullet added, so it can be done, but you might do the lock the original group outside, leave the girls inside, and feed both groups along the fence for a couple of days.

Fighting is not bad, IF THE LOWER OR NEW BIRD CAN get away, and out of sight. So many runs are just an open rectangle where a bird can see any other bird from any position in the run. If yours is that way, add a lot of junk. Old chairs, pallets, ladders, roosts, platforms of pallets and cement blocks, saw horses, old plastic tote place on its side. These allow birds to get out of sight, out of the space. While it will look more cluttered, it will be much more interesting to your chickens and more efficiently use the vertical space.

Mrs K

Thanks for the helpful tips!

 

[Mrs. K]

If you have introduced them, no need to worry about quarantine. It is nearly impossible to do in a truly backyard set up. There is a real risk, but you are past that now.

And do not draw it out too long. Success is everyone together, and no one being attacked, not everyone being best friends. It may take several weeks before they are one flock. I would let them roost together from the get go.

One can tap a large piece of cardboard dividing the roosts into two parts with the advantage that when roosted, one cannot see a bird on the other side of the cardboard. Chickens are big believers in if I can't see them, they are not there.

Hence, a lot of clutter. I always think of it as bowing to the queen. If the lower ranked bird gives way, and disappears momentarily, in the queens mind, protocol has been observed, and all is well. I have even seen moments later the two birds eating side by side. The problem begins if the lower bird tries to move away but still remains in sight due to the open plan of the run. The queen can take offense to that, and will continue the fight to make her point.

To me, it is over the quickest, if you let them work it out on their terms, as long as they have an escape.

Mrs K

 

[pennyJo1960]

Where you are I guess I will agree with Mrs K then

 

[Nanili]

It's possible when you meet someone and shake their hand you could get the flu or some other disease if they have the flu or some other disease. There are a lot of parasites an diseases that are not vaccinated for. When two new chickens meet it's possible they could give each other a disease or parasites if they have a disease or parasites. Some people quarantine new chickens for a month before they mix them with their flock to check for these diseases or parasites. Not everyone quarantines and many that think they are really don't do it right. You can write a lot about quarantine, but since yours have already mingled it's too late for it to do you any good if there was even a need to start with. It's water under the bridge so don't worry about it.

Thanks for giving the age of the two groups, that helps a lot. Since you are dealing with living animals no one can give you guarantees as to how they will behave, but you should be better off than many people.

Since they are all mature, they have to work out their place in the pecking order. That often involves pecking or some form of fighting. Sometimes that gets violent and sometimes you may not notice it happening. How much room you have inside and outside is important. With them free ranging you appear to have a lot of room outside which is good. That large coop helps too.

I don't know where you are located so I don't know your time zone. You've probably already managed your first night. If you did lock them in the coop together and there is still time my suggestion is to be out there at daybreak to see how it is going. They my be fine, you may need to let them out early. Or maybe not.

There are different ways you can try to integrate adults. Some people would just put them together and see what happens. Sometimes that works, especially if you have a lot of room. Most people on this forum don't have that kind of room.

If it is too violent for that to work, housing them separately but where they can see each other through a fence for a while can get them used to each other. Letting them range together during the day but sleep apart for a while can ease the transition. Having different and spread out feeding and watering stations can reduce points of conflict. For people that keep them in runs adding clutter to provide places for the new ones to hide under, behind, or over can improve the quality of that space. If you leave them locked in the coop when they are awake clutter in the coop can help too if they are violent.

At some point they will have to work their way into the pecking order. As long as no blood is drawn or one is not trapped on the ground with another standing over it pecking at its head I pretty much let them work it out. It is a judgment call as to how much is too much and you need to intervene.

I wish you luck.

I had them out in the run together yesterday and today and I am just afraid to put them in the coop together. They seem so scared and I don't know how much to let them fight. I keep stepping between during the fights because I don't want them to hurt each other!

 

[Nanili]

If you have introduced them, no need to worry about quarantine. It is nearly impossible to do in a truly backyard set up. There is a real risk, but you are past that now.

And do not draw it out too long. Success is everyone together, and no one being attacked, not everyone being best friends. It may take several weeks before they are one flock. I would let them roost together from the get go.

One can tap a large piece of cardboard dividing the roosts into two parts with the advantage that when roosted, one cannot see a bird on the other side of the cardboard. Chickens are big believers in if I can't see them, they are not there.

Hence, a lot of clutter. I always think of it as bowing to the queen. If the lower ranked bird gives way, and disappears momentarily, in the queens mind, protocol has been observed, and all is well. I have even seen moments later the two birds eating side by side. The problem begins if the lower bird tries to move away but still remains in sight due to the open plan of the run. The queen can take offense to that, and will continue the fight to make her point.

To me, it is over the quickest, if you let them work it out on their terms, as long as they have an escape.

Mrs K

Thanks Mrs. K.,
These are helpful hints. I'm noticing that they are being attached by multiple birds and that was making me nervous so I separated them again. I want to be conscientious, but I don't have time to spend my whole day focused on integrating them. So at some point, they will have to be unsupervised. My great pyrenees is usually in the run, protecting my flock from a resident bobcat, but I notice when fights start to break out, my 2 year old pyr gets overstimulated and I'm afraid she might get in the mix too. So, I'm just trying to pay attention and take it slow.

 

[Flachickman]

I have 2, six year old BSL's and am planning to add 2, six month old chickens to the coop. My old girls have been together since birth, and I am sure they are set it their ways. My fear is that there will be fighting as outlined in this thread. I have set up a fence and a small coop in the run
for the new chickens. I would like to know how long I should keep them separated?