Introducing new pullets to an existing flock of 4 hens w/limited yard space

[urbanutah]

I do you have a question for aart. You mentioned that introducing chicks is much easier. Everything I read said you must keep chicks separated from the flock until they are approximately 20 weeks old, or roughly the same size as the adult hens, before they can be introduced to the flock or the adult hens will kill them?? I'm a little confused. If I have misunderstood something I would love more clarification as I will do anything to make this process easier down the road when it's time to bring the number of my flock back to six through natural attrition.

 

[aart]

I do have a question for aart. You mentioned that introducing chicks is much easier. Everything I read said that I have to keep the chicks separated from the flock until they are 20 weeks old and then introduce them. Is that not the case? From everything I read it sounded like you can't introduce chicks to an existing flock until they are the same size as the adult hens or the adult hens will kill them?

The 'wait till they are the same size' thing was long a maxim for integration....but in the past couple years more folks have been integrating younger..
I integrated this years chicks at about 4 weeks old.
They went into the coop at 1 week with their heater, separated by a wooden and mesh temporary wall from the main flock.
They had their own feed, water, roost, and run in the 'coop partition' as I call it.
At 4 weeks I opened the three tiny doors in the wood part of the wall and 'taught' them how to go in and out.
At 6 weeks I took down the wall completely.
There were a few pecks of course, some of the bigs pestered the littles more than others, but overall it was much less dramatic than usual.
I think the chicks were less of a 'threat' than when I used to wait until the chicks were larger...and a smaller, faster target to hit, haha!
Now at 14 weeks old, they all get along pretty darn well, tho chicks definitely remain the 'subflock'. It was nice to get the integration over sooner rather than later and because I had way more chicks this year it was a very good move to integrate younger,
it's pretty crowded out there, but they are already used to each other.

 

[aart]

The coop box is 4' wide and 4' deep x 5' high, obviously that doesn't include the nesting boxes. The run is 6.5' high by 3' wide and there is an open porch area with storage shelving between the run and coop box. The entire coop is 9.5' wide by 7.5' tall. I thought that would be large enough for up to 6 hens according to everything I read before we began the build. They free-range every day, but I know winter will be a challenge when they choose to stay inside. There is a 32" high open area below the coop box for them to hang out and dust bathe in as well and everyone appears to have enough room when they're all inside when it's raining and they choose to take cover. Otherwise, they free-range daily and we have an automatic door on the coop.

Another 'rule of thumb', one that IMO is a minimum..... 4sqft per bird in coop and 10sqft per bird in run......you have room for 4 birds.

6 is gonna be crowded.

 

[urbanutah]

Apologies for the duplicate question, it didn't look like the first one went through. Appreciate that information. Again, my coop isn't super large so partitioning a section might be a bit of a challenge. I suppose I could create a partition that included one of the three nesting boxes that would give them a little more space. I have also since read that if I have a broody hen I could buy fertilized eggs and have them hatch them. I understand the mommy would protect the chicks?? Obviously, the downside of eggs is that if I get a Roo I would have to get rid of it as our city ordinance does not allow them.

 

[aart]

Apologies for the duplicate question, it didn't look like the first one went through. Appreciate that information. Again, my coop isn't super large so partitioning a section might be a bit of a challenge. I suppose I could create a partition that included one of the three nesting boxes that would give them a little more space. I have also since read that if I have a broody hen I could buy fertilized eggs and have them hatch them. I understand the mommy would protect the chicks?? Obviously, the downside of eggs is that if I get a Roo I would have to get rid of it as our city ordinance does not allow them.

Yep...another downside is that your coop is already beyond capacity.

 

[urbanutah]

I would add that Gertie has been picked on far more aggressively than Stella because of her smaller size at integration.

 

[urbanutah]

And here I thought we had built the Taj Mahal of coops for the size flock we intended to have. I'm rather bummed.

 

[lazy gardener]

Unfortunately, that is the biggest challenge for folks starting with their first flock. What's a newbie to do, when she goes to the feed store and sees a little doll house coop that is way over-priced that is rated to hold "X # of chickens"??? One would think that the feed store wouldn't participate in false advertising. Not so. While it's possible to cram X# of chickens into those little coops, they are poorly designed, are the perfect set up to encourage disease, cannibalism, feather picking, and general terrorizing within the pecking order because it's not possible for the underlings in the flock to move far enough away from the "Boss" bird to meet social protocol.

 

[urbanutah]

It certainly wasn't our intention to throw away hundreds of dollars on a balsa wood mini-coop. We had agreed to take 4 hens from my client, but thought it would be 6-8 weeks after he closed on his home as we explained we needed some time to build a coop. Unfortunately, he called two weeks later saying he and his wife were drowning in eggs and if we didn't come take 4 of them he was going to eat them. Agast, I promised to come pick them up that weekend so the balsa wood mini-coop purchase was an emergency stop-gap measure, which almost cost as much as the coop we ended up building ourselves (so much for the free eggs, right?). I personally think those pre-fab coops should be outlawed, they are not weather-proof, provide little-to-no protection from predators and are so small it's ridiculous. We set to work designing and building their new coop almost immediately after adopting them and had them in their new home about 10 weeks later. They free-ranged all day every day, which meant they were only in the mini-coop to sleep at night and two slept in the nesting boxes due to the tight quarters in that awful thing. We threw it away as soon as the new coop was complete as it was already beginning to fall apart.

 

[urbanutah]

So, in a nutshell.....if you are a "suburbanite" or city-dweller with roughly a quarter acre lot, take the time to think things through carefully when considering becoming a backyard chicken keeper. Be sure you have ample space for a DIY coop that will be at least somewhat shaded in the summer and protected from wind/snow/rain in the winter (even if you're DIY-challenged, you're better off building one yourself as the balsa wood pre-fab coops are a complete waste of money).

And, even more important, make sure you have somewhere on your property at least a little ways from your existing flock (and not in a shared space) to quarantine new additions, whether chicks, pullets or adults until they can be integrated safely. I've read if you get baby chicks from a "certified" hatchery, no quarantine is required, so that's something to think about. Keep in mind that the recommended min. 30-day quarantine period can be shortened with some calculated risk in a smaller flock situation, but very close attention should be paid to the newbies to catch any potential issues early. I have also learned that diseases vary somewhat depending on the region of the U.S. in which you live. In Utah, where we live, it is extremely dry so we don't encounter the degree of respiratory issues that folks in the northwest, northeast and south often contend with, which is a relief to me....one less thing to fret over.

It is highly probable that at some point in your chicken keeping career you will need to cross the quarantine/integration bridge since hens will die of natural (and unnatural) causes and will need to be replaced with new ones if you still want eggs. Always try to get two at a time, so for small flock people like us it means you will get down to 2-4 hens before adding more, which means you will probably have to buy eggs (yuck) until your replacements begin to lay, which can feel like forever when you're waiting for eggs.

From what other, far more experienced chicken keepers have shared is that adding chicks may be much easier than adding pullets to a small existing flock, but require some creative separation solutions in the existing coop, which may be a challenge for those of us with smaller urban coops. Bottom line is to think things through, be prepared and hopefully your experiences will be enlightened by what I, and others have shared.