Introducing chickens

Ole rooster

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I going to pick two new hens today if I can get this figured out. I do not have a place to isolate new ones. So what would you do if two new hens came in? Put um in with the others? How would they know where to go to roost? Am I just asking for trouble?
 
Likely you are asking for trouble IMHO, even appearling healthy additions to a flock can bring a new strain of cocci, worms, mites or worse in the form of numerous other diseases. The second issue is new birds may not just fit right in and the reestablishment of a pecking order can cause injuries, reduce egg laying and gennerally up set things.

Far better to quarantine new additions for a month then introduce them slowly so they get a chance to see each other through an adjoining fence for a while before allowing them to mix.

You don't need to but if you rush things the risks are much higher. With hearing so many BYC stories of people bring sick chickens into a flock and ending up with major outbreaks it is likely a good idea to do a little reading about CRD, Coryza and some of the other problems before jumping into the deep end.

You may get away with it once but keep rolling the dice and sooner or later you will roll snake eyes.
 
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If you can, I would keep them seperate (but still so they can see eachother - a large dog kennel or hang some chicken wire??) for a few days at least. Chickens can be very teritorial and may attack anything new that comes along. I also read that it might be a good idea to place the new girls on the roost with the others at night so when they wake up in the morning its like they were always there... might be worth a try. Perhaps a few monitored visits prior to pulling the trigger...

We have 3 BR chicks (5 weeks) who are in a coop... in the coop. The girls will have plenty of time to get used to them before I intergrate. I plan on doing the night time roost trick as well.
 
What I was thinking goes along with what y'all have said. So I going to have to build something to keep them in before I try it. Thanks.
 

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