Introducing New Chickens?

[Mujoo]

Hi, I have had chickens for about a year and a half and I absolutely love them! In the beginning, we had some troubles starting out our flock, dealing with two roosters and a fatality. So our original flock only had one hen that we could keep; to give the hen some company we got two more hens. Recently one of or hens died, leaving us two chickens. They are about a year and a half old and I want to increase the size of our flock by adding to more hens. Is that a good or bad idea? I would like to get them so that they are pretty young but big enough so my two hens won't hurt them. What are your thoughts? If I could pull it off how would I introduce them so they won't hurt each other?

 

[NYREDS]

People here will disagree with this I'm sure & suggest all sorts of complex methods for adding new birds to a flock. I can only tell you what's worked for me for 50 years.
I don't do anything. No quarantine, no putting new birds in a seperate cage so the other birds can see them for a few days, nothing. I put them in the pen at night & for the most part they all wake up in the morning & go about their business. Occasionally there is some sorting the pecking order but never any serious injury, providing of course that the pen is large enough so there's room to run.
Keeping chickens isn't nearly as complicated as some would have you believe.

 

[Pardee_Boy]

My question is along the same lines here. I started out with 3 hens this spring they are full grown and starting to lay. I recently bought some cochin partridges .The new chicks are only about a month old at this point and are hopping out of the brooder and making a mess in my spare room. I've been itching to get the barnyard animals out in the "barnyard" .

My coop is a 4x4 house with a run that is 12x4. I know I have to add on to the house to be able to fit all six of them . But what I was worried about is the "pecking order". I would hate to come home to find a young one pecked to death. How young is too young to introduce to older hens?

I planned on doing a small coop next to the current one for some get to know time. But I like the idea of the night time sneak attack. This is much more reasonable to me. I do allow them to free range after the eggs land in the nest boxes so late mornings is not a concern of space and getting picked on for the littler ones. Can I add them soon? or should I move them to a area outside for a bit then add them to the hen house?M