can we have chicken cousins visit our flock?

[Ihavesomechickens]

well how do people add hens to their adult flocks then?

i am hoping to get serious help and info

If you are just watching them for a few weeks, I wouldn’t see the need to introduce them to your flock. It’s not worth the stress to mess up the pecking order just to mess it up again two weeks later, the birds won’t be happy and you won’t even be done integrating them by the time they leave. I was entirely serious in my answer.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I have a second, smaller pen adjacent to the large chicken run. My young birds go in this small pen when they outgrow the brooder - at about four to six weeks, depending on weather. They need to be feathered and big enough not to look like baby birds, so my cats won't think they are prey. The big birds can see them and get used to being around them, but not able to touch or peck them. The littles have a small, secure coop of their own. They remain in this arrangement for several weeks, until they are about 12 weeks old. Then I just open the gate that separates them and they begin to mingle without either group really even noticing that's what's happening. A week or two later I start encouraging the littles to roost in the big coop, and after that I close up the little coop. Bingo, done! Soon the littles will be ready to lay and I have them where I want them. I'm sure others do it differently but this multi-step approach works for us and doesn't seem to stress the birds.

Can you put them in the smaller adjacent pen?

 

[Minky]

Looks like you have a nice green yard adjacent to the coop- can you let your sisters hens free range in the yard while people are home, and then put them into a larger dog crate then that for night?
I agree with others-2 weeks is waaaay too short - integration will take much longer.
Alternatively- borrow or buy from 2nd hand store baby gate type thing, you know folds up with hinges. You can rig a top on it. Or just get some 2x 4s and staple some chicken wire to it, and make a corner pen using the chain fence that is there and the wooden fence that is there as 2 walls. Wooden fence needs mending tho... but basically you will just need a third wall.
The possum, however throws a wrench into it- Im sure your sister doesnt want dead hens. They can be crazy vicious.
Why not just leave them at your sisters with a big bowl of food and water and visit every 3-4 days??? I have 60 hens and have left them for 3 days no problem.

 

[funnyfoshay]

she doesn't have an electric door so they would be locked inside their tiny coop

 

[Minky]

she doesn't have an electric door so they would be locked inside their tiny coop

Doesnt her coop have a run? I'm confused.. I dont have an electric door either, I just leave them locked up inside the coop. They are only 2 hens- how big is your sisters coop? What do they do when its stormy/snowy/raining hard? aren't they locked in the coop during those times. Makes no sense.
What you have them in , in that photo looks to be less than 6 sq feet. I would imagine your sisters coop has to be 3 times that at least.

 

[funnyfoshay]

her pen is pretty tiny. her 2 girls sleep in their nest boxes. Alot of people have about 2 squre feet per hen indoors. that is what they sell at walmart etc. her run is nice size for 2 hens but she has foxes where she lives.
I don't know why she didn't arrange for better care for her hens. she just asked me yesterday to take them and like i said last year they were ok.

 

[funnyfoshay]

Looks like you have a nice green yard adjacent to the coop- can you let your sisters hens free range in the yard while people are home, and then put them into a larger dog crate then that for night?
I agree with others-2 weeks is waaaay too short - integration will take much longer.
Alternatively- borrow or buy from 2nd hand store baby gate type thing, you know folds up with hinges. You can rig a top on it. Or just get some 2x 4s and staple some chicken wire to it, and make a corner pen using the chain fence that is there and the wooden fence that is there as 2 walls. Wooden fence needs mending tho... but basically you will just need a third wall.
The possum, however throws a wrench into it- Im sure your sister doesnt want dead hens. They can be crazy vicious.
Why not just leave them at your sisters with a big bowl of food and water and visit every 3-4 days??? I have 60 hens and have left them for 3 days no problem.

the possum that has visited us comes for chicken feed not to eat our hens.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

her pen is pretty tiny. her 2 girls sleep in their nest boxes. Alot of people have about 2 squre feet per hen indoors. that is what they sell at walmart etc. her run is nice size for 2 hens but she has foxes where she lives.
I don't know why she didn't arrange for better care for her hens. she just asked me yesterday to take them and like i said last year they were ok.

Those are horrible conditions. Why doesn’t she give her girls a roost bar or something? Chickens need 3-4 square feet per bird inside. Why would Walmart sell chicken coops, actually better question, why would someone buy a chicken coop from Walmart?

 

[Minky]

My question is- doesnt the run protect the hens from foxes? What is the point of a run if you need to worry about predators? Im still confused. Leave the door from coop to the run open, and visit every 4 days. They will be fine...no?

 

[Folly's place]

Some runs are a lot safer than others! If there's a dig-proof base, and an actual roof, it's not too bad, but without either, useless.
Mary