Introducing new chickens to flock

[Bigrooster1]

I would like some advice on what to do to introduce new ones to a flock.

 

[CoopBoots]

Quarantine to help ensure you don't introduce new diseases to your existing flock.

Use a "look but don't touch" setup for long enough to ensure familiarity between the groups and to limit fighting (depends on the birds' personalities, but anywhere from a week to a month would be my initial estimate, and I'd go longer with youngsters who aren't mature enough to navigate social boundaries with aggressive adults).

Add extra feeders, waterers, + run "clutter" for new birds to use. More feeders and waterers means existing birds can't hoard resources and starve your fearful newbies out. Clutter is to hide or break line of sight with a bully and helps prevent serious injuries.

The more space you have and the more you can supervise, the smoother you can make the process, but you're still very much facilitating a process the birds need to do for themselves. As always, the greater the space you are working with, the safer the entire thing will be for everyone.

 

[Bigrooster1]

Quarantine to help ensure you don't introduce new diseases to your existing flock.

Use a "look but don't touch" setup for long enough to ensure familiarity between the groups and to limit fighting (depends on the birds' personalities, but anywhere from a week to a month would be my initial estimate, and I'd go longer with youngsters who aren't mature enough to navigate social boundaries with aggressive adults).

Add extra feeders, waterers, + run "clutter" for new birds to use. More feeders and waterers means existing birds can't hoard resources and starve your fearful newbies out. Clutter is to hide or break line of sight with a bully and helps prevent serious injuries.

The more space you have and the more you can supervise, the smoother you can make the process, but you're still very much facilitating a process the birds need to do for themselves. As always, the greater the space you are working with, the safer the entire thing will be for everyone.

I did the look but no touch thing for quite sometime. Then i let them roam together for awhile and then seperated them again. Finally they were doing good so I took the barrier down but after awhile I noticed this chicken that had been pecked over very badly. That’s another question about what I should do for this chicken. I put some medicated dust on it for now until I get more advice. It doesn’t walk around and just stays puffed out like this all the time.

 

[CoopBoots]

Oh, wow, I'm so sorry. I can't quite make out what type of injury this is, it almost looks like she's missing skin?

If you've already posted on the emergency forums just ignore this, but I'd definitely get some advice there right away otherwise. Let them know the brand of your medication there. You might need to wet that wound with triple antibiotic or similar vs. Using a drying product like dust. Sometimes one over the other can better promote tissue regrowth!

@azygous, @Eggcessive, if you've already seen this please excuse the tag!

 

[azygous]

I once adopted an older hen, abandoned by her owner and sole survivor of her flock. I documented how I went about integrating her into my flock. It was a rewarding success. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/introducing-a-single-hen-to-an-existing-flock.71997/ It didn't happen overnight, though.

Here is how I treat serious wounds.

1. Treat for shock as the number one step. Give warm Gatoraid or mix a half teaspoon of sugar into a fourth of a cup of warm water with a pinch of salt and baking soda. Have the patient drink it all or syringe it into the beak.

2. Flush the wound well with saline. This is better than soap and water as it maintains the PH of the tissues. But warm soap and water will do. You need to wash away the bacteria from the wound.

3. Inspect the wound carefully. If it has a skin flap dangling, keep that. Do not cut it off. Look for bite, tear or puncture marks indicating a puncture wound. If you see this, the patient will need an oral antibiotic such as amoxicillin. Bacteria from the predator’s mouth can be injected deep into tissue and can kill in as little as 24 to 48 hours. You can order this https://www.kvsupply.com/item/aqua-mox-250mg-capsules-100-count/P06184/250mg twice a day for ten days. Or you may be able to find this or something similar at TSC or a pet store.

4. Spray with Vetericyn wound treament and let dry. Use a topical antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin or a generic without pain killer in it to coat the wound. If there's a skin flap, lay it across the wound that has just been coated with the ointment. Then smooth on a generous amount over the top of the skin flap to hold it in place.

5. It's useless to try to stitch a wound on a chicken. Don't even try. It's also useless to try to bandage a wound other than on the feet. The chicken will not tolerate it. It will be pulled off faster than you can blink an eye.

6. Clean the wound every day following the above steps. Keep the wound covered with the ointment. Never allow the wound to get dried out or it will not heal.

 

[Eggcessive]

Very good advice from azygous. We never know how well integrating a new chicken will go. We can only give advice as to what has worked for us. So sorry about the injury on your hen. Hopefully, she will heal with some time.