Just bought new chickens tips.

[maybejoey]

I just went and bought 5 female chickens. 1 americana, 3 barred rocks, and 1 little silkie. I have 7 original birds that I am planning on putting them in with. The original 7 are all hens except for one, (hes one of the chickens with a headress but hes not a silkie) But I need any tips on introduction, and I will proabaly need a way to take care of small cuts
( as of what ive read about some introductions on here). Any help helps.

 

[chickendude]

Introduction of new birds is always a sticky situation. I always put the new birds in a cage of some sort. Usually a large dog crate and leave it in the run with the other birds. This way they are protected from pecking. Over about a 2 week period the new birds will get used to seeing them. When you finally do let them all together there is usually a couple of pretty big fights coming from the dominate birds and directed toward the new birds. But they normally settle down with the fighting within a few days. You have to keep a close eye on them but still let them work out the pecking order. Best of luck to you.

 

[JodyJo]

how old are all your chickens? I did this also, I bought 3 EE pullets, and when they were about 6 weeks old, I put them in a cage inside the coop with the older girls, they were 16 weeks at the time (10 weeks apart). I left them inside the coop for a few weeks so they cold all see each other...I would let the big girls out to free range all day, closing the run off, and allowing the smaller ones to 'free range' in the run. At night, I would scoop up the little ones, place them back in the cage, then let the big girls in. It was a hassle, but after a few weeks of this, I tried letting them all out together...

OOP, make sure you give the little ones some place to run and hide....they got pecked so badly, but no cuts etc...they ran away, it is hard to watch, but you have to integrate them eventually, or two separate flocks. Now at 13 weeks old, they are mingling with the older ones, but still tend to stick together, still afraid to get too close. I believe when they reach POL, the roos will make sure they are accepted, at least this is my hope...I don't want 2 flocks, I want one big happy family! LOL

Good luck, there are other ways of doing it, this is my way, and it seems to have worked.

 

[maybejoey]

I didnt have a place to put them. So i imediatley put them in. They pecked for about 10 minutes then they all stopped fighting. I even got 5 eggs this morning.

Oh and they are 7 months: new ones, old ones:5months.

 

[maybejoey]

The chickens were all getting along very well then I went to school and when I came home one was dead. The chickens didnt kill it it flew across two fences, The fences seperated like this / chickens / turkeys / dogs /. It flew over the chickens and turkeys fence and into the dog run. As soon as I found it dead I took scouts off for the day and put up netting so it cant happen again. I am very very very sad and I think my chickens are too.

 

[geekgurl]

I'm sorry you lost one of your chickens.