Mixed flock?

[Etakeh]

I live in town, and just gave my two silkies to a more rural friend because one turned out to be a boy (he told me at about 5:25am yesterday) and they are sort of a matched set.

She offered to trade for two of hers. They'd be about the same age as mine, but different breeds. I've got two aracaunas, a turken and a sicilian buttercup - she's thinking she'd bring me a barred rock and a speckled sussex.

My worry is that bringing in new chickens will cause problems. I know they will be healthy, but will they get along?

My chickens have been handled more than hers - she's got a larger flock, around 20 birds, so they won't be as "friendly" as mine. Mine are used to being picked up, and are used to the dogs and cats (and bunny) wandering around the yard. They have a sort of schedule that they keep to, and an established pecking order.

So my question is, am I asking for trouble, bringing in two outsider chickens?

 

[Mahonri]

You will have four or five days of adjustment and then they should settle in.

Good luck!

 

[Etakeh]

The incoming ones are also used to sleeping in an official coop - mine sleep in a large dog house with a fenced in run.

Do you think the new chickens will end up as people/animal-friendly as the current ones?

 

[Etakeh]

I got the new girls early this morning. I let the "old" girls out into the yard, and put the new girls in the chicken enclosure. They stayed there for a while, with the old ladies heckling them.

I left them alone for a while, and when I came back out, Oddball was giving them the grand tour while the other ladies napped in the verbena.

The only one being a butt so far is the turken - she's always the instigator. The rest just follow along.

Tonight will be the test, to see if they go in with the ladies to sleep. Oddball sleeps in the house, so he won't be much help to them later.

 

[lovinlife]

I hand raised all my chicks and some of the hens turned out to be very friendly and some are very stand-offish. Two of the ones who were very snooty are finally eating scratch out of my hand now. I only give scratch out of my hand in an effort to keep them coming to me. I use the same call every time i hand out scratch, so they come running. There are two who refuse to eat from my hand, but the rest will let me pet them and pick them up. They were all raised together and had the same experiences at gentling. So, I think your new girls will either warm up to you or they won't, give it time. Try hand feeding and see how they respond. They're both very cute! I like the speckled one just cause she's different!

 

[Etakeh]

I had some enforced bonding time with the new ladies. One of them, the barred rock, went over the fence and spent the night in some blackberry bushes between our fence and a busy 4-lane road. One of our cats pointed her out to us this morning or we might never have found her.

So, after an hour or so of chicken-wranging in the briar patch, the new ladies got their summer haircuts.