I just introduced a strange hen with one chick and a group of 5 wk. old biddies to my flock of 6 (one rooster). The biddies keep to theirselves and often have to run out of the way of the larger birds. The hen and chick combo kind of range by themselves also. At night, the old group roost as usual, the hen/chick sleep together in a nest box and the teens sleep in a pile in the corner. Noone is bleeding yet! It helps that I free-range everyone and the henhouse is very roomy, so noone is really in each other's way except in passing.
Where they came from, they were all getting very picked on by a large flock of free-ranged birds. Their previous owner doesn't quite know what she is doing and is just playing around with her incubator. I kid you not, her whole flock is missing half their feathers (the turkeys too!), have been eaten by predators, killed or injured in mysterious ways, etc. She is ordering more chicks in May!!!! She claims all the picked off feathers are from overactive breeding but I have had rough and ready roosters before and never had barebacked and barebreasted chickens like hers. The turkeys are missing breast and tail feathers, even.
I swear these chickens I got from her think they are in heaven at my place. She said they were wild but they follow me everywhere and try to climb on me if I sit in the grass!
Do you need to introduce them in a certain way, should we (one day) get more? Do they need to be about the same age (for example, could I put chicks in with our three adults?)?
