Introducing New Flock to Old Flock

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whatthehay

whatthehay

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Hello! We have about 30 chickens that are almost 3 years old. We have a new flock of about 40 chickens that are ready to move to the coop with the older flock. How do I go about this? I've read a lot about putting them in at night. Have you tried this? We had them close to each other for a couple of weeks so they could see each other, but then the weather got really bad and we had to put the new flock in a shed facing a different direction. So, they have not been in contact with each other for a while. Moving them closer and having them "look but not touch" is not an option now. So, we either put them all in together during the day or at night. I'm just wondering what the best way to do it is....Any suggestions? Also, the birds are pretty big. How do you suggest we go about putting them in? One by one? A couple at a time? Thansk in advance!
 
Is your coop big enough for 70 birds? If so, It probably won't be a big issue. Yes put them in at night AND make sure you let them out first thing in the morning. There will be squabbles for sure but combining similar numbers helps a lot.
The breeds involved makes a bit of a difference too.
 
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Yes, it is big enough for 70 birds. So, do I put them in the coop at night? Our chickens are fenced in. It's a pretty large area. We put them in the coop and not just in the fenced in area? We've got Ameraucanas, Leghorns and Black Sex Links.
 
Those should be fine together. Putting them in at night they slowly become aware of each other as they awake in the morning rather than during the day when the commotion causes problems quicker.
 
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put in some extra feeders/waterers so none of them get too impatient and start a food fight. If you had a baby monitor to put inside you could hear how things are going and step in if necessary.
 
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Actually with that many birds and enough space and feeders, integration should go far easier than with small flocks. There will be scuffles, but probably few 'knock down- drag outs'. If roosters are involved, that's a completely different story.
 
We do have two roosters. One is a tiny little guy and the other is a huge one.....both are part of the old flock.
 
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