Introducing a Chicken to Another Flock

[SkylaSilkie]

I'm thinking of putting a younger chicken with another flock of older chickens. I've been wanting to do it for a while and now that she's laying I think it's time. Lucky, the one I'm trying to intoduce, is about 7-8 months old. The others are about 9-11 months old. 5 out of 6 of them hate her. One chicken will walk with her without pecking her. Another avoids her, but doesn't hurt her. Should I try to just put them together or the whole flock?

 

[TheSpeckledRoo]

First things first, have you isolated the hen you want to introduce? You wan to isolate the hen for thirty days. If she is the same size i wouldn't worry about introducing her. What most people do is allow all the girls to free range, then you throw in the other hen so they are on neutral ground. After a couple days of this, i usually add the hen at night time very silently without disturbing the other hens. There will be some pecking going on but that is normal.

 

[ChelleBelle]

I have 5 hens that were hatched in the first week of August. How would I go about adding a new chick. I'm thinking of adding a Polish to the mix. I really like the crest on their head.

 

[roostersandhens]

she will probably get picked on so be careful

 

[PoultryPedia]

There are a few ideas that might be helpful on the "Keeping Peace in Your Coop" page on my site linked in my sig below.