Introducing a new bird

[merce3]

so, i lost one of my two hens last night or this morning sometime. i'm not sure if it was a predator or if it just walked away. i forgot to close them in the coup and left the gate open. they usually stay close to the coup, so i was thinking that it may have been a predator but there's no blood or feathers anywhere and my other hen was not harmed... anyway, after looking around the neighborhood, i have decided to replace her with another bird.

my question is, would it be easier to socialize a fully-grown bird or start with a chick? the one i have is 8-10 weeks old. any recommendations or any idea what might have happened to my original bird?

 

[merce3]

i just read the tutorial on adding new birds and most of it applies to flocks. i only plan to have two for now.

i did read the statement below. would this apply to my situation? if so, could i add a heat lamp to the brooder or do i need to wait until the chick develops adult feathers? i just want to make sure they're not too far apart in age so there aren't any problems.

Introducing very young chicks to other young chicks (during the brooder stage): Here’s a method used by BYC Member "Davaroo" with some degree of success (paraphrased):
"Keep them apart until nightfall. When the group of chicks in the brooder are all settled down, slip the new chicks in as quietly as possible. In the morning, turn on all the lights and make a big commotion. Fill the feeders and waterers with a big, messy fuss. Your little peepers will be so worried about the commotion you’re making and getting to the freshly placed food, that they will forget to fight very much (at least not more than usual). Being flock birds, chickens flee danger together, and they feed together for the same reasons. These activities are "bonding" for them."

 

[merce3]

Anyone?

 

[Pork Pie]

I would think that socialising a bird of similar age would be better as sorting out who is in charge will not result in serious fighting. I guess it also depends on what breed / nature a new bird has - some hens seem to like chicks whilst others will not tolerate them at all (thats my experience with my small flock).

No clue what could have happened to your other bird - sorry!

 

[aart]

The 'davaroo' technique for adding little chicks to little chicks sounds viable...doesn't it apply to your situation tho.

Wonders if your missing hen went to roost in a tree somewhere and will reappear after a day or two?

Adding a new single bird to an existing single bird is a whole nother ball of wax...not sure what to suggest at this time.
A chick might be less likely to bring disease but harder to integrate...CTKen makes a good point on that.

Either way, best to keep new bird physically separate at first.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best of mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock