If you are just getting started in chicken raising, I recommend that you avoid the battery hens. These are stressed hens, at the end of their lives, that could very easily bring in disease or parasites into your young flock.
Quarantine is not about just separating the birds. To quarantine correctly, one needs separate living quarters, and they need to be several hundred feet apart to prevent the spread of air born diseases. One needs separate feed and waterers. One needs to take care of one flock, come into the house, shower, change clothes and SHOES and care for the second flock.
Many people pretend to quarantine with a fence, and when they are successful, they think it worked, when it was just they got lucky that the new birds or the old birds did not have anything catching. Often times, I have gotten birds from other people, and have taken the risk of adding them to my flock, often without a problem. However, the risk of adding battery hens, or any birds from an auction greatly magnifies the risk of transmitting disease and parasites.
You might want to get a bit more experience before you add those types of birds to your young flock.
Also, 8 week chicks are not full grown, and adding full grown birds to this flock may be a rough integration. The battery hens may very well have some nasty behavioral habits that occur when living in a tighter confinement than most backyard situations. They will not become nice right away.
Mrs K
