Combining two flocks!!! :)

[grasjm36]

Hope this is the right place...

I have a small flock, 5 hens. My neighbor is moving and offered to give me all of her hens, she has 11. My coop/run/property is huge and i most definatley have the space. My coop can be split in half by a door and that will solve the quarantine part of this process BUT if I deem them all healthy, laying, mite free....then what??

When is the best time of day to let them mingle? Should I do it in stages? They will be able to see each other during the first month.

 

[sherrydeanne]

For me it's been easiest to mix them just before they go to roost at night. Once they've had their few weeks of staring at each other, I'd make sure they're all roosted together and then check on them in the morning and bring a fun treat. There will be some squabbling but hopefully no big problems.

 

[lilblessings5]

years ago I brought 12 birds home and added them to my exsisting flock. I didn't know there would be trouble. The orginal hens would not let the others down from the roosts to eat or drink. They stayed up high and dry. I ended up moving the entire flock into new quarters and that confused them enough to start accept the new additions.

This year I had to remove 2 birds because they were injured. I had read that adding them at night after the hens are roosting and asleep is a good way to go because chickens sleep so heavy and then when they wake up in the morning its like they were there all along. However, I wanted to observe the birds when I added her back. Soooo- I put her in during the afternoon and stood by to watch.
It was an interesting site. There was one hen that kept attacking this poor bird until her crown was bleeding. So, I removed her and tended her booboo and then waited till night fall and snuck her back into the coop. We never had any problems after that.

 

[crazyhen]

Once the quarantee is over fix the wall between with wire. You can remove this later after another 3 or 4 weeks. You did not say if there are more than one roo involved. Two roo's may fight over the hens even in a fairly large area if they are use to being with those particular hens. Gloria Jean

 

[babyblue]

I would qt them, then let them meet and greet threw a fence for a few weeks. after that range together and keep a hose or water gun handy. all fights get sprayed. the head chicken determins who may fight and I am that head chicken. less then a few hours to a week of water gun squirts to the face and everyone will get along peachy.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

I'm really interested in how you introduce new hens into an established flock. I've never done it but will have to do it someday. I'll check back and see what suggestions people come up with.
Thanks for posting!

 

[kindir]

I don't think there is any surefire way to put chickens together. I have two D'Anvers hens and a roo. I cannot put the two hens in together. Simply can't be done. I have tried putting them together at night, I tried putting wire between the two and letting them live side by side for weeks on end, I tried putting the OTHER hen with the roo and re-introducing the original hen, etc. They get into horrible fights the second I put them together and they mean business.

That said, I had a small flock consisting of 2 Sultan hens and 3 bantam cochins. I had gotten rid of the Sultan roo as he was getting horribly aggressive. The day after I did that, I added an established trio of a bantam barred rock and his 2 hens. Little bit of fighting the first day and now everyone is happy and getting along famously.

The key is to watch VERY carefully for several days after you add them. If I see more than a couple small drops of blood, they are back out again. There is simply no guarantee it will work.

Good Luck!

 

[grasjm36]

Thanks everyone!! I get the girls sometime this week. I'm very excited. And we don't have a rooster so that shouldnt be a problem.

 

[newchickenmama12]

I am currently trying to add 3 new hens to my original 3 hens. I have 3 Rhode Island Reds about 4 months old that are just starting to lay. The 3 new birds are a silkie, a polish and a buff orphington. They are about the same age, maybe a bit younger. The 3 older girls are not adapting well to the 3 new girls. I have tried everything. Intorducing them at night while roosting, introducing them in a free range situation, intorducing them in the day time supervised. Nothing seems to work. Two of the older girls will" tolerate" the new ones but there is one that seems to be pretty hostile. I have even seperated her from the rest and when I put her back there is is trouble. Especially with her and the buff orphington. I dont want my new girls to get hurt. Since the older ones are now laying I dont want to get rid of them either. I've been seperating them during the day and the older ones are pretty much free range which is becoming a problem since they are laying and we have to do an egg hunt everyday. If anyone has ANY advice, please let me know. Im really at my wits end and do not know what to do.

 

[CaityS]

Hi Everyone!

So I recently added 5 new hens to my existing 6 hens (3 standard and 2 bantams). Quarantine and introductions went fine. They are roosting together and there have been no serious squabbles. However, the new 5 and my original 6 are definitely two separate flocks. Will they ever integrate together? They eat separate, range separate, dust off separate, everything separate from each other. Will they ever become one united flock?

Thanks!