Integrating Pullets and Roo with young flock members.

[FarmerTan]

Hello!

I am going to pick up 3 POL hens and a Swedish Flower Roo tomorrow. My existing flock of 5 pullets are 2 months old, and the hens and Roo I am getting are approximately 5 months old. I will not quarantine them as I know these birds personally and they are free of diseases. I do plan on keeping the new birds in a kennel until treat time, where they can scratch around together, but I have heard some success stories of sneaking in the new birds at night so they all wake up together, everything went smoothly.

Will they be one happy family as they are fairly similar in age or will the Roo and older hens try to attack my littles?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You actually might have more troubles due to them all being younger, but every integration is different. I would not just slip them in at night unless you plan on being there when they start to wake up. I would pen them next to each other for a week or longer before letting them start to mingle.

 

[FarmerTan]

I forgot to mention I have only had these young pullets for one week myself. So it is still a new area to them. Thank you for the input @oldhenlikesdogs

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hopefully things work out quickly for you. Good luck.

 

[Kutley]

I have 3 4 month Ameracaunas and 5 6 wk black copper , 5 cuckoo Marans and 4 speckled Sussex . We built them a kennel beside coop with a small coop house and after 2 wks cut them an opening to integrate into large coop . That way they could get back to their pen , food , water and coop . Hopefully in a couple weeks they will all be in the main coop and I can close this up until a future need. They are the sweetest chicks

 

[chickens really]

I always free range during the introduction...They seam to accept the other birds easier that way...As for not keeping them separate for diseases, it doesnt matter how well you know the flock you bought from...Disease might only show up during times of stress? Caution is the name of the game...Birds can be carriers of disease and never show a symptom...

Best of luck