Introducing new chickens to established flock question Photos Added

[Ridgerunner]

Rebbetzin, I know we are hijacking your thread. Hopefully you don't mind.

Kickin' Chickin' :

Hi Pam, Sorry for the confusion. The run is a good size but the coop itself very small.It's like an a-frame. Hubby decided this morning he needs to build a new and improved coop(hope it goes up fast as we live just outside Syracuse and get lots of snow) ,I guess what I needed to know is how long to wait before introducing the new arrivals or should I separate the chicks from the hen and just acclimate her to the coop by herself, the introduce the chicks after they've outgrown the "chick-box".All of your help is truly appreciated as I grew up on a dairy farm and have no idea what I am doing with the chickens.

I don't know what you mean by "good sized" but I believe in letting Mama take care of the integration. They will still have to handle their own pecking order issues when they are weaned and as they grow, but basic integration will be taken care of. How mixing mama and the chicks with the others goes will depend on how much space you have, how protective of her chicks mama is, and the personality of your existing chickens. Some adult chickens (In my experience usually hens. My roosters are usually protective of little chicks, but not all roosters are) will actively go after young chicks and try to kill them. Most broodies have such a bad attitude and are so protective of their chicks that that does not happen all the time, but it can happen. There are risks either way, but I prefer the risks of a hen taking care of the integration issues than letting the young ones do it on their own later. My flock is fairly laid back. I've had two week old chicks leave mama's protection and go eat out of the same feeder while the big chickens are eating there. Usually one of the older hens will give the chick a peck to remind it that it is bad manners to eat with your superiors in the pecking order and the chick will run flying back to mama for comfort, but sometimes the older ones let then eat. There are no guarantees with chickens. Anything can happen.

Not really knowing your situation real well but understanding your weather concerns, if the run is big enough, I'd give consideration to putting a predator proof enclosure in the run (I'm assuming your coop in the tractor is pretty small and your run is not predator proof) and letting mama take her chicks there at night but let them share the run during the day. I'm thinking something like a dog crate, but with something over it to keep it dry. Then, when the bigger coop is finished, put them all together. I'm not going to give you any guarantees, but if the run is big enough, this is how I'd approach it. Good luck!​

 

[bills]

I read this in a section of introducing new birds to a flock, and believe it actually works quite well. Mind you, this probably works best if the birds are approx the same size.

"Many BYC members swear by putting new chickens on the coop roost after dusk, when the established chickens are all settled down for the night. In the morning, they all wake up together - and the established chickens are thinking to themselves "hey, have I missed noticing those other girls all this time??", and they will go about their business. A pecking order will still need to be established, but it will be more gentle, and should be done with in about three days."

 

[Ridgerunner]

Many people do believe that putting them in together at night is helpful. It may actually be. I can see where they may be more interested in eating and drinking when they first wake up, but they still have to determine who gets to eat and drink first, go out the pop door first, who can sleep where on the roosts, all the stuff that the pecking order takes care of. Many times integration goes well. From her post, I think Rebbetzin's is going really well. Sometimes integration goes horribly wrong. I would not put them in together at night without being there first thing in the morning to let them out in case it was one of the horrible times. At least give them a chance to get away. You can certainly try it and I really hope it works out, but I think the biggest potential advantage of this is that they get the initial integration issues out of the way before the human knows anything about it. Then the weaker ones stay safely on the roost while the dominant ones are on the ground and everything is peaceful when the human shows up. But if you try it and it works for you, I consider that great.

 

[rebbetzin]

Things are going pretty well. There have only been a couple of squaking and running sessions.

Here are some photos of the process.

The new enclosure is bigger and has more things to keep them occupied, and has places to hide.

They were together all day. Then at dusk I put them in the regular run, and at night, I put the younger ones in the coop on the roosts. They seem fine. No real mishaps. They all seem to just keep their distance from each other.

 

[Whimsy]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago. Here is the link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=5067110#p5067110