introducing new. babies

[michellerae658]

I need some advice, I raised 5 babies till they were 2 months old, I put them in a smaller cage inside the big coop for 2 weeks to get the 2 hens and rooster used to them. I finally let them out in the big coop when they were almost as big as the others and they seemed fine all day, the next morning my babies were dead, the others killed them. How do I introduce new chickens on the existing coop?

 

[Clucksworth]

When introducing new chickens it's best to just simply put the new chickens in the new coop at night. This way the new chickens will know where to go to sleep and your original flock won't bully the new hens so badly. It's better to introduce chickens into a larger area, so the new chickens will have more room to get away. It's also a good idea to add multiple feeding stations, so the new hens aren't forced off their food and they are less likely to get hurt by other hens enforcing dominance.

Hope this helps

 

[rookiefarmers]

Oh no! This is my nightmare! I have my littles still separated at night, they do awesome all day in the run, but tat mostly because there are tons of hiding spots. I am not sure how I will get to the point where we can fully integrate them, but what I know is, I am taking it SLOW to be safe.
I am so sorry that you lost your babies. :'(

 

[Birdybooo]

I m trying to introduced my new POL Wyandotte to my existing pullets (which are only 13 weeks old), the pullets attacked the older bird and made her bleed. Will be keeping them seperate for a couple of days, I always thought its the older bird that is bossy. Good luck with integrating your next lot, that's really sad to hear

 

[rookiefarmers]

Introducing one at a time is hard. could you intro her to them a few at a time and see how they do? Has she met them thru the fence yet?

 

[califarmgirl]

When introducing new chickens it's best to just simply put the new chickens in the new coop at night. This way the new chickens will know where to go to sleep and your original flock won't bully the new hens so badly. It's better to introduce chickens into a larger area, so the new chickens will have more room to get away. It's also a good idea to add multiple feeding stations, so the new hens aren't forced off their food and they are less likely to get hurt by other hens enforcing dominance. 

Hope this helps

I am concerned about my chicks too! My chicken coop will be finished next weekend and I was going to place my easter eggers (7 weeks) with my little black stars and bantam Cochin (3 and 4 weeks) into the coop together. Easter eggers are massive compared to the little ones. They have been in different brooders because of the age difference. Should I wait until the little ones are larger?

 

[califarmgirl]

I need some advice, I raised 5 babies till they were 2 months old, I put them in a smaller cage inside the big coop for 2 weeks to get the 2 hens and rooster used to them. I finally let them out in the big coop when they were almost as big as the others and they seemed fine all day, the next morning my babies were dead, the others killed them. How do I introduce new chickens on the existing coop?

I am so sorry! That must have been horrifying.

 

[Clucksworth]

I am concerned about my chicks too! My chicken coop will be finished next weekend and I was going to place my easter eggers (7 weeks) with my little black stars and bantam Cochin (3 and 4 weeks) into the coop together. Easter eggers are massive compared to the little ones. They have been in different brooders because of the age difference. Should I wait until the little ones are larger?

Some people will disagree with me, but I would wait another couple of weeks before I would introduce the younger chicks to the older ones - just to be on the safe side. However if you have a larger amount of small chicks and a small number of older chicks they may get along ok because the younger chicks will have safety in numbers.

Good luck

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I would always wait until the birds are close to the same size physically. Even then, the adult hens will give the younger birds a hard time. I just introduced 19 started pullets to my flock, all on point of lay, so they are very close to the same size as the adult hens. The hens have mostly stopped pecking at them, but still won't let them roost.

 

[califarmgirl]

Some people will disagree with me, but I would wait another couple of weeks before I would introduce the younger chicks to the older ones - just to be on the safe side. However if you have a larger amount of small chicks and a small number of older chicks they may get along ok because the younger chicks will have safety in numbers.

Good luck

I'll take your advice and wait. The EEs are huge and rowdy. I'll put them in the coop next weekend and wait a few weeks for the little ones to get larger. Thanks for the advice.