I have integrated young chickens into an established flock many times, but never adult chickens. I had a well-laid plan, which just blew up a couple days ago compliments of our no longer neighborly fox.
My main flock of chickens is comprised of 21 mature chickens (including 2 roosters) and 8 threeish-month olds. My second flock had 4 birds (1 rooster, 3 mature hens). The small flock has been in a temporary coop & encolsure since last spring while their new "Cooplex" is being built. The two runs are very close together, about 18", and when ranging they share a common fence line. So all the birds know each other and have been doing the "see don't touch" approach for nearly a year.
The Cooplex (which is about 90% done) is a larger, permanent structure which has the ability to be divided into 2 smaller coops & runs or left to be 1 larger space. Long term goal is to have a rooster on each side, so the dividers are designed with roosters in mind, NOT integration. For the time being, the plan was to move the flock of 4 to the new Cooplex and at the same time add 2-4 more hens from the main flock. My hope was that by moving all the birds at the same time would avoid anyone having the upper hand due to familiartiy with the new coop, and they were used to each other, and we could close the dividers if there was too much squabbling to give them "breaks" from one another as needed.
Then we lost a hen from the small flock of to a fox three days ago. I thought at the time that the fox had breached the enclosure and that the flock needed to be moved immediately (turns out I was wrong, but what's done is done). We moved the three remaining chickens to the new Cooplex that night. The run is complete and secure but does not yet have the divider. The coop is basically done and has a divider. The small flock is now living farther away from the main flock. They can't see each other except when the main flock is ranging in the yard and they are still approximately 30 feet away from one another. They've been in the new coop for 2 full days.
Question #1
So... should I go ahead and move the hens from the main flock now, while they all are still familiar with one another and everyone will still be new"ish" to the Cooplex? I won't have an ability to seperate them if there is too much squabbling. I'm also presently on spring break from work, and can monitor their interactions fairly well.
Or... should I wait until the divider is in place (another couple weeks perhaps) so I have a way to seperate them (but again- the divider will be mostly solid- intended for roosters NOT for integrating- although now I'm imagining a way to make a dual design that could work for both... a window that can open/close perhaps... ? But I digress. If I wait to integrate, then school will be back in session which means I leave before the chickens wake up and am gone 9-10 hours each day.
Question #2
To complicate matters... The main flock had a respiratory issue (sneezing, "wet" sounding breathing) which I'm now suspecting might have been infectious bronchitis. First symptoms appeared 3/11. They did a antibiotic treatment from 3/15 - 3/22. More than half of the flock had symptoms at some point, but they seem to be mostly done with it. The smaller flock became symptomatic on 3/21 but are already sounding better. I'm not giving them an antibiotic. I assume that since everyone's been exposed to whatever this is, that it should be safe to mix them.
Is there any reason to be concnered about putting a no longer symptomatic bird in with the more recently symptompic flock? Or what about adding a bird who was exposed but was never symtpomic to the more recently symptomic flock?
I appreciate hearing about your experiences and/or what you might do in a similiar situation.
Unrelated to the integration process, if you use these aluminum Amazon enclosures, you may want to read about how we lost the hen to a daytime fox and the valuable lesson I've learned. -->
We've been using these enclosures for 2 years now. They are great for seperating birds for being sick, being bullied, or being horny. They are not predator proof, but they do keep the birds contained... or so I thought. When I came home from work on Thursday and saw the door to the enclosure had been busted up (pushed outward) and the chicken wire pulled free to the outside of the coop (looking as though something that broken OUT but not IN to the enclosure), I assumed the fox had gotten into the enclosure, got into it with my rooster, and then damaged the enclosure trying to get back out- allowing enough space for the hens to get out but not the rooster. But I was wrong.
I saw the whole thing on my camera and once I thought about it, I realized that 2 adult hens weigh about as much as a bowling ball- well the fox came by and startled the chickens. Two of the hens flung themselves in a panic against the side of the enclosure. Their combined weight was what bent the flimsy metal door AND broke a bunch of the zip ties holding the chicken wire in place. So they accidently threw themselves right out of the enclosure. We were able to fix/reinforce the door, and we will be reusing this enclosure for the cockerels as they mature but now I will use metal and/or Velcro zip ties. We may also consider reinforcing the larger open areas to be able to better take the brunt of a bowling bowl being hurled at the enclosure. Here is a picture of the enclosure I'm describing.
My main flock of chickens is comprised of 21 mature chickens (including 2 roosters) and 8 threeish-month olds. My second flock had 4 birds (1 rooster, 3 mature hens). The small flock has been in a temporary coop & encolsure since last spring while their new "Cooplex" is being built. The two runs are very close together, about 18", and when ranging they share a common fence line. So all the birds know each other and have been doing the "see don't touch" approach for nearly a year.
The Cooplex (which is about 90% done) is a larger, permanent structure which has the ability to be divided into 2 smaller coops & runs or left to be 1 larger space. Long term goal is to have a rooster on each side, so the dividers are designed with roosters in mind, NOT integration. For the time being, the plan was to move the flock of 4 to the new Cooplex and at the same time add 2-4 more hens from the main flock. My hope was that by moving all the birds at the same time would avoid anyone having the upper hand due to familiartiy with the new coop, and they were used to each other, and we could close the dividers if there was too much squabbling to give them "breaks" from one another as needed.
Then we lost a hen from the small flock of to a fox three days ago. I thought at the time that the fox had breached the enclosure and that the flock needed to be moved immediately (turns out I was wrong, but what's done is done). We moved the three remaining chickens to the new Cooplex that night. The run is complete and secure but does not yet have the divider. The coop is basically done and has a divider. The small flock is now living farther away from the main flock. They can't see each other except when the main flock is ranging in the yard and they are still approximately 30 feet away from one another. They've been in the new coop for 2 full days.
Question #1
So... should I go ahead and move the hens from the main flock now, while they all are still familiar with one another and everyone will still be new"ish" to the Cooplex? I won't have an ability to seperate them if there is too much squabbling. I'm also presently on spring break from work, and can monitor their interactions fairly well.
Or... should I wait until the divider is in place (another couple weeks perhaps) so I have a way to seperate them (but again- the divider will be mostly solid- intended for roosters NOT for integrating- although now I'm imagining a way to make a dual design that could work for both... a window that can open/close perhaps... ? But I digress. If I wait to integrate, then school will be back in session which means I leave before the chickens wake up and am gone 9-10 hours each day.
Question #2
To complicate matters... The main flock had a respiratory issue (sneezing, "wet" sounding breathing) which I'm now suspecting might have been infectious bronchitis. First symptoms appeared 3/11. They did a antibiotic treatment from 3/15 - 3/22. More than half of the flock had symptoms at some point, but they seem to be mostly done with it. The smaller flock became symptomatic on 3/21 but are already sounding better. I'm not giving them an antibiotic. I assume that since everyone's been exposed to whatever this is, that it should be safe to mix them.
Is there any reason to be concnered about putting a no longer symptomatic bird in with the more recently symptompic flock? Or what about adding a bird who was exposed but was never symtpomic to the more recently symptomic flock?
I appreciate hearing about your experiences and/or what you might do in a similiar situation.
Unrelated to the integration process, if you use these aluminum Amazon enclosures, you may want to read about how we lost the hen to a daytime fox and the valuable lesson I've learned. -->
We've been using these enclosures for 2 years now. They are great for seperating birds for being sick, being bullied, or being horny. They are not predator proof, but they do keep the birds contained... or so I thought. When I came home from work on Thursday and saw the door to the enclosure had been busted up (pushed outward) and the chicken wire pulled free to the outside of the coop (looking as though something that broken OUT but not IN to the enclosure), I assumed the fox had gotten into the enclosure, got into it with my rooster, and then damaged the enclosure trying to get back out- allowing enough space for the hens to get out but not the rooster. But I was wrong.
I saw the whole thing on my camera and once I thought about it, I realized that 2 adult hens weigh about as much as a bowling ball- well the fox came by and startled the chickens. Two of the hens flung themselves in a panic against the side of the enclosure. Their combined weight was what bent the flimsy metal door AND broke a bunch of the zip ties holding the chicken wire in place. So they accidently threw themselves right out of the enclosure. We were able to fix/reinforce the door, and we will be reusing this enclosure for the cockerels as they mature but now I will use metal and/or Velcro zip ties. We may also consider reinforcing the larger open areas to be able to better take the brunt of a bowling bowl being hurled at the enclosure. Here is a picture of the enclosure I'm describing.
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