Introducing new birds to the flock

[FlaGardenGirl]

I mail ordered chicks of various breeds (all female) and received them last March. They are not laying yet, but should be within the next 6 weeks or so. I had one chick that is so small, she is less than half the size of the other one I have of the same breed. They are Silver Laced Wyandottes. I also had one chick (Delaware) that became lame. Neither of these problems were apparent when they first arrived. I have another flock one year older than these (all White Rocks). Right now they are kept separate, but when the young ones begin to lay, I plan to combine them all. Any suggestions on the best way to go about this?

 

[Imp]

The two most common suggestions for integration are:

Put them together at night, in the dark. or

Let them see each other, but not interact for a few days first.

Good luck & Welcome to BYC

Imp

 

[saritastar]

I'm no expert, but I have 2 set of chicks that I got about 6 weeks apart (needed to replace roosters for hopefully more hens). I've had the two tractors right next to each other for awhile... about 4 days now? Anyway, today I let them all out and the little 2 went into the bigger chicks tractor... then the bigger chicks came in. There has been a little bit of pecking of the littles, but not much. I was out there supervising for about an hour. So far, so good!

I don't know what will happen tonight though, when the get put to bed (in the dog crate that I bring in every night

)

Good luck!