interdusing new chickens

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

Welcome to Backyard Chickens! We are glad you joined the flock! BYC is a helpful site providing all the information you need to know about poultry! There is always space for more members on the BYC roost! Integration can be a problem when younger birds are involved. Please check out the link @Pork Pie provided for you. Hope you enjoy it here as much as we all do!

Welcome to BYC. Great links provided by @Pork Pie.

X2

 

[BlueBaby]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! Good luck with your flock!

 

[happy duck]

Very happy you joined! I am glad you have chickens... I have ducks and am very happy that we kinda have something in common! Hope to see you around!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[feathermaid]

So it sounds like you've got some tough ages to mix together, because your laying pullets are full sized but still adolescent, and may not tolerate babies quite as well as older hens would. Your young ones are probably just big enough that they'll appear to be competition and could be targets of excessive pecking, even though the pecking order is completely normal. (It's actually much easier to introduce 4 wk old babies to fully mature birds)

Try the See but don’t touch method to start with, and also lots of free range time.

Hopefully your group of 8 will be enough to stick together and keep the big ones at bay. Just offer lots of hiding spots or ways the young ones can escape... no dead end corners. Important to break line of sight, like leaning a plywood sheet against the wall to hide behind, or lots of additional perches to hop up out of the way. An all flock feed (with oyster shell in a separate container for the layers) will be perfectly fine to feed all the birds in your mixed flock, the babies won't eat the extra calcium until they need it.

As long as you have enough space for everyone, they should integrate pretty well.
How Much Room Do Chickens Need

Good luck with your chickens!

 

[N F C]

Best of luck with the integrations...that can be stressful for the birds AND the humans You've been given some great links, hope they help.

Thanks for joining us!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[sassysarah]

Hi, and welcome to Backyard Chickens! BYC is a very informative site providing everything there is to know about chickens!

Check out BYC's articles on just about every chicken subject! They're very simple, helpful and easy to read!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/


We all really enjoy BYC!
I hope you enjoy this site as much as we do! Hope to see you around the forum!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Welcome!