Advice on integration

[4luvofchickens]

I currently have 2 lovely barred rock girls that are 21 weeks old. I will be adding a light brahma this Saturday that is 19 weeks. I will of course keep the brahma seperated for 2 weeks... but then what? Should I slowly integrate them or will they be fine together since they are all young? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[4luvofchickens]

Anyone??

 

[PunkinPeep]

After your quarantine (i would recommend 4-6 weeks), i would put the new girl in with the others but separated by chicken wire or a wire cage - something that will allow her to be seen but not touched. Once the girls have gotten used to each other, you can try integrating them completely - preferrably outside, especially if you free range.

Some folks also have great success adding the new girl at night while everyone is sleeping - just set her on the roost. I have never tried that method personally.

 

[teach1rusl]

Unless your rock girls just have LOVELY, mild personalities, it will be harder to integrate just one. But at least there's only two of the originals. I've heard of the night time integration too, but haven't tried it. I have tried introduction through wire though. I think it helped me SOME, but it's something I'm still working on. In my case, there was/is a much greater age difference. So I've actually sat out in the run with a water spray bottle to run interference...AND I've monitored at roosting time

I hope things go smoothly for you (and your new little pullet).

 

[Lifestyle Lift Journey]

There is a topic about it who succeeded integration.
It seems working very well so worth a look?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=396425

Good luck!

 

[4luvofchickens]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. My barred rocks are lovely, however i would not say they have very mild temperments. They can be bossy, mostly my larger girl. They will puff up and body smack each other, but no blood is ever shed. Has anyone else ever tried to integrate just one bird? I thought maybe since they are all so young they would take to the integration better???

 

[elizabethlongwood]

We integrated just one bird back in mid-June. The 3 established chicks were about 10 weeks old and the new girl was a couple of weeks younger. We were shocked at how mean and nasty the three chicks were to the new one so we took things very slow. The new girl had already been picked on a lot at her old home and her back was completely bare We kept her in a dog crate right next to our other chickens' run during the day, and then moved her onto the back porch at night to protect her from night time predators. After a few weeks, we started letting her free range with the others during the day, knowing she had lots of room and places to hide if they chased and pecked her (which they did) but we still kept her separate at night. The first week of August, we finally added her to the henhouse with the others after it got dark. Things have gone fairly smooth since then, but they still chase her away from the food and water sometimes and don't 100% accept her. If we had to do it all over again, we would have added two to the flock instead of just one.

 

[shellie003]

We added one hen to our pullet flock at around 18 weeks for our pullets (the hen is a year). After a quarantine, of course. They kinda had it out and we stayed in the coop for about an hour to make sure things were ok and checked on them more frequently during the next couple of days. 2 weeks now and everyone gets along fine. The hen (Gertie) hasn't missed a beat laying, not one day. She lays jumbo sized eggs. So all seems well. I think it really depends on your flocks temperament. Our ladies are lovely and pretty laid back. We introduced in the morning and things went fine. But that could be just us.

 

[Chick Charm]

Adding just the one chick is going to be tough on the newbie. But eventually (2 weeks at least) you've gotta do it. Free ranging them gives the newbie opportunity to run away a safe distance. If I had any recommendations it would be to add at least two at a time that way that have some form of feeling secure. Usually the newbie will always be picked on. Low man (oops low girl) on the totem pole.

 

[Rockerchic]

You might try letting all your birds have free-range breaks together when you are ready. After a couple of these, maybe do the nighttime trick. Should work