Introducing New Chickens to an Existing Flock

[BYC Project Manager]

Bringing new chickens into an existing flock sounds simple… until the drama starts.

Even the calmest hens can turn into full-on “boss ladies” when strangers show up, and suddenly there’s chasing, pecking, and a whole lot of attitude. Some keepers swear by the slow “see but don’t touch” method, while others just let them sort it out naturally (with mixed results!).

So what’s your experience? Have you successfully introduced new chickens without chaos—or did things get a little wild at first?

What worked for you… and what would you never do again?

Share your tips, stories, and lessons learned. Your advice might save someone else (and their chickens) a lot of stress!

Related article: Introducing New Chickens to an Existing Flock

 

[fldiver97]

See, don’t touch has been my most ‘successful’ experience. Often I will let the flock mingle with the newbie(s) while free ranging in the backyard in the afternoon for a couple of hours and if they seem to be fairly peaceful (some light pecking is acceptable) I let them go back to the coop on their on and just watch how they settle on the roosts. I think I had one single hen that I adopted as an adult that needed to be put in her screened of area for another night and then she was okay after free ranging the next day

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

See, don’t touch has been my most ‘successful’ experience. Often I will let the flock mingle with the newbie(s) while free ranging in the backyard in the afternoon for a couple of hours and if they seem to be fairly peaceful (some light pecking is acceptable) I let them go back to the coop on their on and just watch how they settle on the roosts. I think I had one single hen that I adopted as an adult that needed to be put in her screened of area for another night and then she was okay after free ranging the next day

How about introducing them at night?

 

[Briarhopper Ranch]

I also employ look but don’t touch. I place new birds in a jumbo dog crate (covered with feed bags to protect them from poop bombs) inside my walk-in coop. After a few days of this, I head out mid-morning when the bulk of the flock is ranging and open the crate door. The new birds can come and go as they wish. I keep an eye on flock integration through the coming days, watching for cornering, hard pecking or severe resource bullying. Some pecking and shoving is fine, and we all know roosting time is a full soap opera. Multiple feeders and waterers, all-day free range and plenty of roosting (nighttime) and barn (day hangout) space mean politics are minimal.

However, I just lost my trusty Cuckoo Marans rooster to sudden death (no sign of trauma or disease, the flock is healthy, he just keeled over), so the social management may become a bit more complex until I can raise a gentleman or two to fill JP’s big shoes. (RIP, JP - gone but not forgotten, big peaceful buddy.)

 

[fldiver97]

How about introducing them at night?

I would try it but also only after a while of ‘see, no touch’….. probably a good alternative to free ranging them together. @Briarhopper Ranch brought up good points - having multiple water sources and feeding stations helps as well as enough room in run/coop

 

[Mrs. K]

Really this depends a lot on the number and age of the new birds. Chicks are easy to add by week 3-4. Give them a lot of escapes and a safety zone, they are fast as lightening. I train them to sleep in a dog crate. Put the crate in the safety zone in the run with food and water. The chicks can get out of the safety zone, and return there from multiple directions, and the bigs can't follow. They are eating by the layers in a matter of days.

With older birds, I do this a bit differently based on the fact that I realized that what new birds lack is territorial rights, and confidence.

Chickens hate change, and it makes them timid. A timid chicken is an easy target for the original flock. So instead of locking up new chickens in a small space which becomes 'their territory'. I remove the original flock.

Mostly what I do (needs no building) is I lock the original flock outside of the coop/run. If they are laying, I have opened the coop, and just kept the newbies in the run. This allows the new birds to explore the run without being chased for their lives. And I swear it lets the old birds see the new birds in the run and the sky does not fall. I do feed along the fence.

Now- generally, I leave the original flock out as close to dark as I dare, and then let the flock back in, the urge to fight is almost the same as the urge to roost. I don't expect the newbies up on the roost in the coop, but most of the time they do go in the coop and roost somewhere.

I do get down there pretty early, and it is usually pretty good.

However, I do add hens and chicks, fairly regularly. I think you might have more trouble if you have an old flock, that have never had new birds for years.

Mrs Knuppe

 

[CrazyChicken_Ladie]

Does this work the same with hens and baby chicks? Because we currently have three hens, and are looking to get eight or ten chicks from Farm and Fleet early April, after we're back from spring break vacation, and two of our hens are broody, so we were wondering if we could just get the girls to take care of them.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes, it is an easy way to add chicks. My favorite way, but you do have to follow some 'rules'.

First leave your hens alone. Maybe, every 3rd day, carefully lift them out of the nest, be careful, because some will steal layers eggs, and some will lay in the nest when the broody is out. So there might be some eggs under her. She will probably be growling, I use a towel over her head. When you get her out, she will act almost paralyzed, but then get up and go out and stomp around the size of a beach ball. This is important, as the other birds in the flock give her some space. They get used to giving her some space.

Then somewhere around 16-24 days later, you need to get fresh baby chicks, the freshest that you can get. Call your local feed store, determine when the chicks will get there, and meet them.

Now the whole broody hen/chick bond is a two way street. The chicks have to want the mother, and the mother has to be broody. So if you get week old chicks, - they have gotten used to a heat lamp and will not make an attachment to a hen unless you get incredibly lucky.

When you get your chicks, make sure your chicks have a drink of water. Then at dark, sit down near the coop with the broody for 10-15 minutes, and while this sounds heartless, it really is important - you want them to get a bit of a chill on them. They need to be peeping madly.

Now in the dark, wearing leather gloves in case she pecks at you. Shove those cold peeping wiggling chicks under her, almost immediately, her cluck will change, and the peeping with get quite, those chicks are going to stick to that warm place like a cocklebur to a blanket. They are going to be tired and go to sleep. She will talk to them all night.

Now for the hardest part - LEAVE. Leave her alone to figure this out. A lot of people cause a lot of problems by trying to help.

The next morning, you can put feed and water on the floor near her. Mine almost always leave the nest with in 12 hours. My nests are about 3 feet off the ground. I get down there in the morning, just in case a chick gets stuck up in the nest, and all I do is put those on the ground, most of them will have made the jump. just check the feed, water, and leave again.

She will take them out to meet the layers on her time - might be a day or two. Oh, before you give the chicks, do freshen up the bedding on the floor, mine have always moved the chicks to a new nest on the floor. Don't bother making a nest, she won't like that one. haha don't ask how I know.

Mrs K