Introducing a 6 month hen to a 18 week hen,

[Newbeechickenmother]

Hi all so we have discovered that we have 4 roosters and 1 female hen and that sounds like trouble so we have decided to buy same more female hens same breed but the new chicken's will be a around 6 months old and at present my girl is only 18 weeks my question is will the young girl be okay with the older females? I've attached some pictures of the group Of five.

 

[DobieLover]

You will still need to do a proper integration. And you still need to drop the number of males down to no more than 2 at this point. Expect fighting over the females.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Also, be sure to quarantine the new birds. Keep them as far away from your existing flock as possible, and downwind, for 3 to 4 weeks. Handle your existing flock first, always. Change clothes and shoes after handling the new birds, don't wear the shoes you wore in the new birds' pen into the areas your existing flock uses. We've had some sad, sad stories of flocks contaminated with diseases that never go away, by carelessness. Marek's not only kills, it causes the birds that survive to be carriers forever, and the contaminant lives in the soil indefinitely.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like doom and gloom. Just be careful.

 

[Mrs. K]

Let all the cockerels go. It is good to quarantine, but it is hard to do it right, and if you don't do it right, you may as well not do it. Risking one bird is really not a lot to risk.

If you are just getting started, IMO, an all hen flock is nice. You can add roosters next year, roosters take some experience.

I would take the boys out and add the birds in at the same time. How many are you adding? If you add one to one, I would expect bluster, and then calm down. If you are adding 5 to one, it is going to be trickier. Try to add one to your bird, wait a couple of days or a week, until that gets established. Then add to the pair.

Do have multiple feed bowls and hideouts in the run.

Mrs K