Integration of newcomers

[Henny Penny #1]

I am so new to this and could really use your help. I have some laying hens coming this weekend, and now have the opportunity to purchase a pair of Buff Brahmas. Can you offer me some advice on how to integrate all my chickens. I will hopefully have some hatching in a couple weeks as well. If I keep the brooder in the same area when they hatch will they automatically integrate when they are out of the brooder?

 

[scarter]

What we do is set up a dog exercise pen in the coop. Then let them get used to each other for a week or two. After the new ones know the coop and the other chickens we let them mix. They will establish their pecking order but it is better than just tossing them in for us. I've never gotten grown chickens though just hatched or day olds to mix in.

 

[Henny Penny #1]

Is a week the minimum amount of time to do this and will the presence of new birds slow down the laying of existing birds?

 

[jrabbit]

i am also interested in this question ... slightly different scenario:

We purchased 3 "hens" in February. Speckles (ameraucana) turned out to be a rooster, and we gave him away on Sunday. Esther (cochin) laid her first egg today!! Apparently, she is a bantam. Sigh. Now, we are one hen short and half the eggs will be smaller than we expected. (our third chicken is a silkie ameraucana)

This is not what we were wanting when we started this adventure.

So, here's the situation: we found out that our feed store can "order" a hen from their suppliers. From what I gathered, we can request a breed, if it's available. We would like an astralorp or a Rhode Island Red. We really want a hen that is of laying age now or very soon. ((We are also raising 7 baby chicks for a friend, with the intention of keeping 2, but they are a long way from laying ... only about 5 weeks old now.))

Any tips on introducing new hens? Any experience with quarantine? Right now, i think the quarantine is going to be my biggest problem. I just gave away our dog crate, and the chicks are living in the only other big cage we have. I read the tips on quarantine - a MONTH ????

Our coop has a fully enclosed run that is about 6x16' and a roosting house that is about 6x8'. They free range most of the time, in addition - but there are days when they stay in the run.

thanks
--janis,etc