Sponsored Post How to: Introduce new birds to your flock

[A-K-A]

I just added 3, 6 week old hens to my Feb hatched hens. Yes the boss hen lined them out. 3 days later they fit in. No feather loss.

 

[mire0042]

Would it be okay to mix pullets of different ages such as 4wks and 8wks? Or would they still have problems due to size/age difference as when introducing pullets with hens?

 

[A-K-A]

In my opinion- if the inductees are Healthy- on feed of the same type as exsisting. That you have ample head space at the feeders and waters and nesting or roosting space. Yes it is. This is just my humble old opinion. There will be a bit of pecking order issues. They will figure out where they belong.

 

[mire0042]

Thank you, AKA!

 

[GardenofEaten]

One of my little black baby chicks had a wound on the back of her neck. So I pulled her out of the small baby coop and put her in a small cage inside of our large chicken coop where 9 Rhode island reds live who are 6 months old and and 4 chickens who are 12 weeK's old.
After the wound healed I tried to put her back in the baby coop with her siblings but they kept biting her. She was peeping for hours to get out of her cage until she became hoarse.so I finally relented and let her out into the large coop. She is at the bottom of the pecking order. Oh I forgot to mention that there are also 3 Bantams in the coop and one of them is a rooster. They stay to themselves. The first night out of her cage the little black chick tried to roost with them and got underthe wing of one of the hen bantams. Tonight when I checked on her she had placed herself under the wing of one of the older red chickens As they began to roost for the night. I realized she would be okay and I could quit worrying over her. Raising chickens is a wonderful experience!

 

[farmer0308]

Hi don't know how to post on this page can someone tell me

 

[towen91]

I'm having some problems adding one new pullet into my small flock of SLW. My birds are all around 12 weeks and there is one cockerel in the mix. I understand the cockerel is still learning how to manage the girls at his young age, but isn't it strange that he is also going after the new pullet as well. Things seem to go 1 step forward, then 2 steps back. I had thought that at this age adding 1 girl to the mix would be easy. Boy was I wrong.

 

[Betsy57]

I'm having some problems adding one new pullet into my small flock of SLW. My birds are all around 12 weeks and there is one cockerel in the mix. I understand the cockerel is still learning how to manage the girls at his young age, but isn't it strange that he is also going after the new pullet as well. Things seem to go 1 step forward, then 2 steps back. I had thought that at this age adding 1 girl to the mix would be easy. Boy was I wrong.

Adding one hen into a group is difficult. She's way outnumbered and has no one on "her side". When I add new hens, I put the rooster with the new hens for a while so he can introduce himself to them and claim them as his. Then when I let them all together, he has protected the new gals. Make sure she has plenty of room to run away from the existing flock and if you can, put her somewhere else at night so she can get a break from the others. Then when they've had time to get to know each other during the day, you can probably leave her in the coop at night with the gals. I also turn the lights out early until they get to know each other so they don't have time cooped up to pick on the new ones.

 

[towen91]

Adding one hen into a group is difficult. She's way outnumbered and has no one on "her side". When I add new hens, I put the rooster with the new hens for a while so he can introduce himself to them and claim them as his. Then when I let them all together, he has protected the new gals. Make sure she has plenty of room to run away from the existing flock and if you can, put her somewhere else at night so she can get a break from the others. Then when they've had time to get to know each other during the day, you can probably leave her in the coop at night with the gals. I also turn the lights out early until they get to know each other so they don't have time cooped up to pick on the new ones.

My rooster is young as well (only 12 weeks). He has no clue what he's doing just yet. If I had to pick one that I would say is in charge at the moment it would be one of my other 2 pullets. Today went better tho! They all 4 free ranged together. The new girl was far away from the others but at least she left the run finally

 

[country lovin]

Ok so I would say that I am new to chickens but have caught on pretty well, however I have never introduced new pullets to the 4 I started my flock with. This is about to change. I got two leghorns when they were 6 weeks and they have been in a smaller coop and run that ran along the big run so they have been in view of the big girls this whole time. They are now 11 weeks how would be the best to move them in, if I even can. I need the small coop for some chicks I have had in the house.