Introduction Opinions Please!

[Lbubbs21]

Our sweet hen, Dorothy, as we’ve suspected has turned out to be Stanley. We’re going to swap him with the farm we got him from. I’m currently introducing two 11 week olds and one 12 week old to our 1 year old hen. Our 1 year old hen is the only left after a mink attack. She has been in a run next to the 3 chicks since they were 2 weeks old, but just in case they are still separated by a pen as the two 11 week olds are quite small.

I will now have to introduce a 12/13 week old into the mix. I’ll quarantine her (thoughts on timing?) and I’m hoping to either start her with the littles and then all of them to our hen or introduce my current birds and then her once she’s out. Any thoughts on this? Photos of Stanley and his golden girls for tax.

Thank you!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

one 1-year-old hen
three 11 to 12 week-old pullets after the cockerel is gone
one new 12 to 13 week old pullet

What do your facilities look like? How big, in feet or meters, are your various coops and runs? How are they situated relative to each other? Photos of your facilities could be very helpful.

Various parasites or diseases can be spread by them eating or drinking out of the same bowls, pecking at the ground where they have pooped, by vectors (like grasshoppers, mosquitoes, or grubs), or by the wind. The more you can separate them the better your quarantine. I've seen 4 weeks as a typical length for quarantine.

If you can tell us something about your facilities I can make suggestions for how to proceed. I like to know what you are working with before I do a lot of worthless typing.

 

[Lbubbs21]

one 1-year-old hen
three 11 to 12 week-old pullets after the cockerel is gone
one new 12 to 13 week old pullet

What do your facilities look like? How big, in feet or meters, are your various coops and runs? How are they situated relative to each other? Photos of your facilities could be very helpful.

Various parasites or diseases can be spread by them eating or drinking out of the same bowls, pecking at the ground where they have pooped, by vectors (like grasshoppers, mosquitoes, or grubs), or by the wind. The more you can separate them the better your quarantine. I've seen 4 weeks as a typical length for quarantine.

If you can tell us something about your facilities I can make suggestions for how to proceed. I like to know what you are working with before I do a lot of worthless typing.

Thank you! We have a 20x10 enclosed run. The 3 young hens (and cockerel) are in the coop and have a 4’x3’ run at the entrance of the coop. Our hen has free rein of all the area within the 20x10 run (except the coop and the small run. She does have hen boxes within the run too.) At night she sleeps in her hen box in the garage until it’s time to introduce them.

We will keep the new hen in the garage as well, but in a different setup away from our OG hen so they’re not too close.

Pictures of the areas attached!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's not bad for space, better than I'd hoped. And the chicks have been in the "see but no touch" for 9 weeks. That's a long time.

Before I did anything else I'd remove the cockerel. You are going to anyway so get him out of the equation. Then, one morning when you can be around to observe, I'd open the gate to that small coop/run and see what happens.

Having a single hen complicates it some. Chickens are social animals and want to be with others. Sometimes a single chicken will imprint on a human, dog, cat, or such but often they really want to be with other chickens. Sometimes different aged chickens like you have can mingle without a problem but sometimes the older will peck or attack the younger, especially if the younger invade her personal space. It often does not take the younger long to learn to avoid the older. Don't be surprised if they stay apart and there is no violence. That will change when your pullets start to lay.

I don't know how it will work in your situation but I'd try it when you can be there to observe.

Once quarantine is over, I'd expose that one pullet to the others for a week and try to let her mingle. See how it goes. Once again it is a single chicken situation so you don't know how it will go. If you can, I'd consider bringing in two new pullets to avoid that single chicken situation. I think it would improve your odds a little.

 

[Lbubbs21]

That's not bad for space, better than I'd hoped. And the chicks have been in the "see but no touch" for 9 weeks. That's a long time.

Before I did anything else I'd remove the cockerel. You are going to anyway so get him out of the equation. Then, one morning when you can be around to observe, I'd open the gate to that small coop/run and see what happens.

Having a single hen complicates it some. Chickens are social animals and want to be with others. Sometimes a single chicken will imprint on a human, dog, cat, or such but often they really want to be with other chickens. Sometimes different aged chickens like you have can mingle without a problem but sometimes the older will peck or attack the younger, especially if the younger invade her personal space. It often does not take the younger long to learn to avoid the older. Don't be surprised if they stay apart and there is no violence. That will change when your pullets start to lay.

I don't know how it will work in your situation but I'd try it when you can be there to observe.

Once quarantine is over, I'd expose that one pullet to the others for a week and try to let her mingle. See how it goes. Once again it is a single chicken situation so you don't know how it will go. If you can, I'd consider bringing in two new pullets to avoid that single chicken situation. I think it would improve your odds a little.

Thank you so much. Last year we introduced 3 new hens (one of which is my single hen) to 3 5 year old hens and eventually it went well, so thankfully it’s not my first introduction. It is however with so many moving factors, ages and things to consider so this was a huge help!