Integrating chickens

[NHchick19]

Hi everyone!

I hope this was the correct place to post in.

We have 8 chickens, different breeds- midnight majesty marans, Plymouth bard rock, and silkies. They are about 16/17 weeks old we believe.

We got 5 new chickens last night, not sure what breeds. They are a little older than our chickens, about 20 weeks we think.

I have read online, and on here, how to integrate them. And last night we put them in the coop together while it was dark and there was no issues (we have a camera) but as soon as we opened the coop for them to go out in the run this morning it was like braveheart. So I separated them and put a fence between them, and gave both sides of the fence food and water right up against it so when they are eating it’s as if they are eating “together”.

Total there are 13 chickens. And our run is pretty big. About 30x30 for the outside area with no cover, but there’s another area connected to it that’s still a run it just has a roof which is another 10x10 space too. So all together about 40x40.

Should I just let them mingle together and establish pecking order as long as there isn’t any pecking to the point of injury or bleeding? Or should I keep doing what I am doing for a while?

Thanks for the advice!

PS. If nothing works, or this isn’t a good fit, my parents neighbors are looking for some chickens and I will give them the new ones! So I have a place for them to go if they need to for all of their safety and best interest if this doesn’t work out !!

Thanks!

 

[3KillerBs]

Just bringing chickens home and tossing them together rarely works out well.

It's too late for a quarantine, but you need to do a see-don't-touch period for them to adjust to each other.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-“see-but-don’t-touch”-method.67839/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/adding-to-your-flock.47756/

 

[NHchick19]

Just bringing chickens home and tossing them together rarely works out well.

It's too late for a quarantine, but you need to do a see-don't-touch period for them to adjust to each other.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-“see-but-don’t-touch”-method.67839/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/adding-to-your-flock.47756/

Thanks for the reply! We were told that we didn’t have to quarantine them since they are all vaccinated, is that not true??

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks for the reply! We were told that we didn’t have to quarantine them since they are all vaccinated, is that not true??

I'm not an expert in this area so I hope someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

There are many diseases and issues that can arise that don't have vaccines and some vaccines don't actually prevent illness, just reduce the severity of the symptoms to allow the birds to survive.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ckens-how-to-and-what-you-need-to-know.67731/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...nderestimated-part-of-raising-chickens.67097/

In any case, it's too late now.

But setting up a see-don't touch area where the newbies can spend a week or so while the birds get used to each other is a good idea. This is one iteration of my integration pen: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/mini-coop-or-integration-pen-from-a-large-dog-crate.76593/

 

[NHchick19]

I'm not an expert in this area so I hope someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

There are many diseases and issues that can arise that don't have vaccines and some vaccines don't actually prevent illness, just reduce the severity of the symptoms to allow the birds to survive.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ckens-how-to-and-what-you-need-to-know.67731/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...nderestimated-part-of-raising-chickens.67097/

In any case, it's too late now.

But setting up a see-don't touch area where the newbies can spend a week or so while the birds get used to each other is a good idea. This is one iteration of my integration pen: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/mini-coop-or-integration-pen-from-a-large-dog-crate.76593/

Thanks so much!