introducing new chicks to existing flock

[Dawn867]

I have six 4 month old chickens. 4 hens, 2 roos. I have four 2 month old hens that are going to outgrow their temporary coop in the next month and will need to be moved to the big coop with the existing flock. They have been in a small coop next to the big coop for the past month. They have been free ranging together. The roosters do chase them often and one roo has pinned one of them down once. What is the best way to integrate them safely? Should I remove the roosters temporarily or possibly the top hen temporarily? Any advice would be welcomed.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

Honestly you shouldn't have more then one rooster with 4 hens. When you put them in with the bigger ones leave the roosters so they all get used to each other at once. Be prepared for some pecking, it happens. I hope all goes well .

 

[Mrs. K]

If that is a picture of your set up, you have too many birds for that set up, especially going into winter when birds spend a great deal of time on the roost in the long nights of winter.

Pictures can distort things, but if I am following your post correctly you are hoping to create a flock of 8 hens and 2 roosters. I agree that two roosters are too much for 8 hens, and are very likely to fight or run the hens ragged. Two roosters can cause a lot of tension in the flock. There is no real place to hide or escape from a bully bird in your set up.

But I think the real issue in your set up is space. For 12 birds, you should have a coop that measures very close to 48 square feet. So the coop, not counting the run shoud be roughly 6 ft x 8 ft. I might be wrong, but it does not look from this view point to be near that size.

In addition to that you need about 120 sq feet in the run. If you let them out of the run each and every day, that is not so critical, but if you are going to be gone for a few days and need them locked up so that they are safe, they won't be safe from each other if they are that crowded.

Crowded conditions make integrations worse.
Mrs K

 

[Dawn867]

I have 10 birds total. 8 hens and 2 Roos. I plan on getting rid of one roo before I put them together. My coop is 4ft x 6ft and the pen is 4 ft x 14 ft. Yes they are let out daily and when we are away we have house/pet sitters that let them out also. They are never cooped up for long periods of time. The 2 roosters get along because they were raised together but I realize it will be an issue with the new chicks and when they start mating. BTW the 2 Roos where suppose to be hens! The little coop is just temporary so the younger chicks could get bigger before I put them in the big coop and they are quickly outgrowing it.

 

[aart]

4x6 is very tight for 9 birds, even just to sleep and lay in.
Will get very, very tight once winter hits and the snow starts piling up.

Check out the 2 articles linked in my signature about Ventilation and Space,
very good info there by folks with lots of experience and good sense.

4 month old cockerels are buttheads and will make all those pullets lives miserable.
Isolating the cockerels temporarily is a good idea, maybe put them in the tiny coop/run and keep all the girls in the larger coop/run.
If you don't really need a cock/erel, get rid of both of them....or wait until the pullets are all laying to reintroduce the keeper cock/erel.

 

[Mrs. K]

Trust me, I do understand about wanting more chickens, but really you need to reduce the overall flock to about 5-6 birds.

When birds are overcrowded, they get horrible habits that can be very hard to break. They frequently become quite brutal to each other, or make a victim. And your birds are going to get bigger, which will decrease their space even more. The 4 month old birds should be close to full size, but not quite, and the 2 month old birds will grow quite a bit more.

Frequently, there are posts on here, where the flock that was raised together, and got along beautifully, all of a sudden are demons and brutal. They grew and needed more space. That is why you have probably been successful so far.

"They never are cooped up for long periods of time" meaning I am assuming that you let them out. However, with the very short days of winter, even if they are not locked up, they will be roosting up by 4:30pm until moring, which IS a long period of time. The darkness artifically confines them so to speak.

Mrs K

 

[bobbi-j]

I agree with Mrs. K and Aart. Your coop is going to be way too crowded for that many birds - especially in the winter. Have you checked out the link on space in Aart's signature? If not, I would strongly recommend that you do so. Ridgerunner is also a very experienced and helpful chicken keeper and knows what he's talking about.

 

[keesmom]

My coop is 4ft x 6ft and the pen is 4 ft x 14 ft. Yes they are let out daily and when we are away we have house/pet sitters that let them out also. They are never cooped up for long periods of time.

Do you remember last winter?

This is my main coop, on the other side of the garden. It's 8x16 and I only had 8 hens in it last winter. They didn't get out for over 3 months (all the pens collapsed). I also have a 4x6 coop and only 5 bantam hens live in that. They were also coop-bound for the same amount of time. So while they get out now come winter they may not.

 

[kguinness76]

I have to agree, having 2 roosters might give you problems. I have not added chickens to my existing flock yet, but have heard that if you wait until the existing flock is sleeping and then put the new birds on the perch with them when they wake up they will think they have been there the whole time. Not sure if it is true, but I have heard that from a couple people, one being the owner of the feed store in my town, that is the best way. You could also try introducing them slowly, in a separate run, so they can all see each other but not touch until they get familiar with each other. Hope that helps.

KJ

 

[WickedChickHens]

I could use some sage backyard chicken advice. Last month, we started with a flock of 4 hens: a 15-week old Buff Orpington (now about 5 months), a 15-week old Swedish Flower (also 5 months now), 12-week old Ameraucana (now 4 months), and 10-week old Barred Rock. We lost our sweet little BR to a (probable) congenital heart defect. The bird dude raising them brought us a young Swedish Flower today, about 11 weeks old. En route to our coop, she was pecked by some older hens. He treated her with no-peck which we will continue to do and we have her in a holding pen where the hens can see her and she them, but she is safe from any harm. She actually wants to be with them, but our older SF tried to peck her through the enclosure. We've since isolated her outside the run in a more secure area. I have a few questions:

1. How long should normal integration to the flock take? What would you recommend?
2. Should we expect it to be longer now that she needs to heal?
3. Our main coop (roost and feed run) is 88.2" (L) × 37.0" (W) × 56.3" (H), within a 10' x 10' run. Is this too small for 4 hens? We're in Idaho and have about 6 weeks before we start seeing the first frosts of winter.
4. Anyone have experience discerning sex of the Swedish Flower. Bird dude seems to think her tail feathers and possible buds on her legs might indicate Elsa is actually Sven. Her pelvis seems too wide to be a roo, according to some other chicken experts.