Introducing an adult Hen to young Hens?? Help?

[certifiedchef]

We have 4 young hens about 5 months and 6 months old. A neighbor has offered to give us their lonely 2 year old banty. She seems healthy and happy, the question is since see is smaller than our girls will this relationship work out, do we add her to the coop, or do we need to seperate her? We have a Buff Orph, barbed rock, R.I.R, and an Americana. We had a light Brahma, but she died - we think she broke her neck. Thoughts? This new girl is bored and lonely - very cute with fluffy feathery feet.
thanks

 

[BookWorm243]

You would need to keep them seperated for 30 days to make sure they are not caring any kind of diesease. They should be fine together I have many different breeds and sizes together.

 

[lovinlife]

I have an OEGB hen that integrated herself into my flock. At first, the full-size roo attacked her so I put her back with her bantam boys. She wanted back in with the big kids, so I let her and now she's fine. Any time I want to integrate new chickens into my flock (usually a young flock of pullets I raised), I keep them in an adjacent pen that shares a fence for a while (at least a month). When i let the established flock out to free-range, I'll open the gate between the pens and let the young ones explore when they feel safe. I usually don't have problems when I do it that way.

 

[certifiedchef]

thanks for the info, abouting keeping this new hen seperate, if she is already living solo is that not the same as me keeping her away from the other birds? Or do I need her in a seperate pen/cage so I can watch her fo ra month, she looks to be very healthy. Unfortunately we have a small coop and run - the girlks get out and free range, so keeping an 'extra pen' next to the orignal birds could be a challenge