Introducing Baby Chicks to Surviving Hen

[kimberly_kodiak]

About a week ago, our chicken flock was attacked and only one chicken survived. The survivor is our sweet Easter Egger hen, Sugar. It was a miracle because she is our son’s favorite and my husband and I have always been very protective of her. She was unable to see for a few days due to swelling and scratches around her eyes. Fortunately that was the only damage done to her. One of her eyes is almost completely recovered and she is walking, eating and drinking normally. We are concerned because she is very lonely and calling for her flock.

We acquired 17 day old chicks before the attack that are now two weeks old and are considering introducing them to her for company. Sugar has always been a mellow, sweet and submissive hen. Does anyone have any idea how and when is a good time to introduce them? Thank you.

 

[Purechick]

I usually introduce my young chicks to the older hens when they are around 3 months old. What kind of chicks are they? Certain breeds of chickens are friendlier/meaner than others. You can put your chicks in a separate cage in the coop when they are about 2 months old so that Sugar can see them and they can see her. After a couple of weeks, you can introduce the chicks to Sugar and see how it goes. There may be some fighting at first but they will settle down after the first few days.

Hope this helps!

 

[kimberly_kodiak]

I usually introduce my chicks when they are about 12 - 14 weeks old but due to the circumstances, I was looking at introducing them early. I thought that since I had 17 babies and only one hen that wasn't 100% and that was lonely maybe she would be more accepting. I was going to put them in a cage in her run for short periods of time, weather depending, so that she could see and hear them but not peck at them. My goal was to acclimate them slowly before putting them together. Since this is new territory for me, I was wondering if anyone has had success with introducing on hen to a group of chicks. I'd love to hear from you.

I had considered getting a mellow hen from a trusted source, my mother, and introducing them but I am concerned with the other chicken pecking Sugar's eye that is still healing or bullying her. I figured the babies were my best bet for non-aggressive company.

 

[densitywave]

We're in a similar situation. Last week we lost 3/4 of our 15 week old hens due to heat stress

Our Easter Egger, Beaker, was the only survivor.

In haste to rebuild our flock, we picked up three new birds this week. They're all younger and smaller than our remaining hen, and one of them is a lot smaller. They are all being picked on by the oldest hen, so we're separating them and supervising them when they're together.

Our current strategy is to keep the three new birds in the run attached to the coop, while the oldest hen is allowed to free range outside the run. They can all see each other through the wire mesh. When we're around to supervise we let the three younger girls out to range with the big Easter Egger. There is some chasing and pecking, but we make sure the Easter Egger doesn't seriously hurt any of them.

We've built a partition in the coop, so the three new birds are separated from the oldest hen at night. Our plan is to move the two bigger pullets in with the older hen in a couple of weeks or so. The youngest girl likely needs several weeks before she's moved over. She's just too little to protect herself.

We're new to chickens and this is our first time dealing with new introductions. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[kimberly_kodiak]

Update:

Here is what we did. Our Easter Egger was one of the lowest in the pecking order in our old flock, which might make a difference. We introduced our 17 three week old chicks as follows. Day one and two, we put them in a separate cage in the run. Day three and four, we put them in the run but separated by chicken wire. Our Easter Egger, Sugar, was interested but non aggressive or territorial. Day five, we put them in the same separated section but with access for the chicks to get out and in. Sugar wasn't able to get in, or so we thought. The chicks would come out and get pecked a little but nothing serious. I was always told that it takes about a week for them to work out pecking order. Later in the day, Sugar got spooked and ran into the chick enclosure and they ran out. We decided to try them all together and much to our surprise it worked. It's a small run about 16' by 4' and they respect the older chicken's space. She pecks them as needed but doesn't terrorize them. We put them together when someone is home and weather permits but not overnight. We are hopeful that in a week or two they will be able to go in to the coop together at night.

Another Update:

Last night, I'm assuming that same animal a Fisher Cat tried to invade my babies coop. It is like Fort Knox and the predator was unable to get in but I have numerous scratches all over the coop. I'm sure the babies were going crazy. My husband is going to set a trap for it tonight and hopefully the problem will be gone soon.