Did I make a mistake?

[alaskan_crew]

Yesterday I brought home 2 Ameraucaunas (E.E.'s?) that were born on July 4th. I added them to the pen with 3 girls that were born on June 25th and 2 grils that were born on June 11th. I knew there would be some pecking order but they seem to be so scared and cower in the coroner. I'm not sure if they are even eating or drinking. Should I remove them until they are a little older? Or should I just let the natural order of chickens to happen on it's own? BTW, I bought them all from the same hatchery so I didn't think they would need to isolated for diseases and such.

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

I would put them in an area all to themselves but close by the others. Give them time to get used to each other..then try it. There are several threads on here about this subject...just use the search feature. Good Luck!

 

[alaskan_crew]

Thank you Newchickenmom&kids.

I know there are so many repetitive questions/concerns sometimes. I will use the search feature! Thanks!

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12751

PLEASE read that post.

Now, I'm slightly confused. You said you purchased them from the same hatchery, but the Ameracaunas were born July 4th? Did you buy started pullets, or what?

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

alaskan_crew......

no problem....if you don't find your answers don't hesitate to ask....someone will always help....

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, you can get birds from the same place and if you raise them in two different areas, they will grow up with two different sets of immunities and can spread disease if they were exposed to any other birds anywhere else. If you take your birds to a show, even though they are still your birds when you bring them back, its a good idea to quarentene. Now they are together though... I'd just leave them to fight it out personally. I'm tough on my birds though. They do just fine with it. It takes about 2 days for them to start eating a bit and they will eat up when the rest go to roost. After about 2 weeks all should be good and the younins will know how to stay out of the way of the older ones.

 

[alaskan_crew]

Very helpful link FamilyofChickens. Thank you for sending that my way.

I bought all the chickens from the same hatchery just at different times. I bought them as started pullets. I first started with the 3 that were hatched on the 25th of June then 2 weeks later I added 2 more that were hatched on the 11th of June. Now I have these girls that were hatched on the 4th of July. They are about the same size as the 3 (Welsummers) that were hatched on the 25th. It's really just the older 2 of the bunch that are causing problems since they are the biggest.

Did I make it more confusing? I'm thinking that the obvious solution would be to take the newest 2 and seperate them until they are older. ? I guess I just didn't think that since they were somewhat close in age there would not be a problem. Thanks again for your input!

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

Okay. Whew. It's just that many people buy new birds, forget to quarantine, and end up infecting their entire flock.

Are they close to the same size, besides the older two? (School hasn't started yet...I'm not going to do the math to find out age differences and all that right now.

) If so, a few days of indirect contact in the coop would probably be best.

 

[alaskan_crew]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Just when I resigned myself to seperating the new ones I decided to just put them all together in a new pen (it was under construction). That gave the bigger girls a distraction, enough for the the new girls to eat and drink. They are still getting bossed around by the 2 older ones but I think that's going to happen no matter the age. My next challenge will be to integrate my 4 older hens with the pullets. I'm shooting for September. Thanks for all the 411!