Hello from Ohio

[ashnnick]

I'm excited to learn/ educate myself on raising my ducks and chickens

 

[Birdrain92]

Thanks!! My concerns and questions right pertain to integrating my "old" flock with the new. I have 5 RIR's that will be a year old in March. My husband and I just got 7 new chicks. Once the chicks are old enough to move to the coop how do we go about doing this to keep the fighting down??

If you can have it so they can see each other but not touch each other for a few weeks and then you can introduce them together. I would wait until they are maybe 4 months to 6 months before introducing them to try and keep fighting down. Though chances are there is still going to be some pecking but not as much when they are separate. Also try to resist from getting involved unless the chick is bleeding them step in. If you keep stepping in sometimes it will make things worse and other times it does help. They usually sort things out without causing blood. There's a bit of a reason why they call it "Pecking Order" literally.

 

[Birdrain92]

I'm excited to learn/ educate myself on raising my ducks and chickens

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined the flock! If you have questions on either bird I can help answer your questions. There are many others as well that can help.

 

[Pork Pie]

Yo already have great advice, so I'll just say hi and and welcome to our community.

Ct

 

[ashnnick]

Thanks!! My concerns and questions right pertain to integrating my "old" flock with the new. I have 5 RIR's that will be a year old in March. My husband and I just got 7 new chicks. Once the chicks are old enough to move to the coop how do we go about doing this to keep the fighting down??

 

[drumstick diva]

Excellent advice from Birdrain. With chickens it's generally best to try integration (look, but don't touch) when they are close to size of the older birds. Welcome to BYC.

 

[N F C]

Good advice on the "look but don't touch". Adding extra feeders and waterers so no one is kept from eating and drinking will help too. There's an excellent article about integration in the Learning Center (along with a lot of other helpful information):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

Good luck and thanks for joining us!

 

[NickyKnack]

Hello!

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to joined the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[ashnnick]

Thankyou everyone for your advice!!