introducing a new chicken

Date sort Score sort
sehfergy

sehfergy

Songster
Sep 10, 2015
82
74
126
madison, wi
hi! we just rescued a 4 mo old rhode island red & after quarantine are introducing it to our established 3-chicken flock. the established chickens are 16 months, the new girl 4 mo, but size-commensurate. we free range our chickens. they've been in the yard together today & as expected, the 3 old ladies are chasing & thus far "gently" harrassing the newby. the newby (freddy) has plenty of hiding places, escape roosts as well as food & water sources. there's been no bloodshed & so far they're mostly avoiding eachother w/ the occasional chasing of freddy. my bf & i are not in agreement about how it's going-i'm not worried at the old girls' behavior yet, but he thinks it's worrisome & we need to intervene. thoughts &/or suggestions?
 
welcome-byc.gif


As long as no blood is being shed, it sounds ok. If you want Freddy to spend the night in the coop with the others, I'd hold off putting her in there until after dark and the others have settled for the night. It would be more difficult for her to avoid the other 3 in a lighted coop.

Integration can't be rushed, it takes time for a flock to accept newcomers and things can get ugly. I prefer the "look but don't touch" method where the new bird and the existing flock are separated by wire for a couple weeks before mingling. You might think of trying that before leaving her unsupervised with the other girls.

Good luck, I hope it all works out well for everyone.
 
thx for reply! that's what i thought, but my bf is stressing out that the chasing means they're establishing bad "new flock" behaviors.

we actually introduced her to the coop last night after the other 3 settled in. the newby has her own little dog crate to get into as well as a roost, both out in the run. freddy ended up staying in the run on her roost & when the day dawned, they all came out, but she's not integrated yet, it's only been 18 hours!!

my bf grew up on a farm & has had chickens; i on the other hand am a total city girl so this is new to me, but seems totally under control & on par w/ everything i've read. i'm wondering if maybe he's not so nervous b/c our 3 hens are pets, he hand raised them from the minute they hatched, & he's feeling like a protective mama chicken. i love them, too, but i'm not seeing anything that is worrisome!

thanks for the advice, i LOVE this site!!!
 
@sehfergy funny image of the nervous mama hen bf, lol. Ours are pets too so I get it.

BYC is awesome, hope you enjoy it as much as I do
smile.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom