New addition to our all girl band...He who crows is King !!

[CCCChickenman]

New chick on the block.
I "knew" as soon as we walked into the front gate of the Colorado State Fair this evening,we would be going home with two more legs than we came with.
My wife, daughter and 12 year grandson...and me
bought a beautiful 5 month old Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel to go with our 17 pet pullets...7 Buff Orps, 5 RIR, 3 Barred Rox and 2 Ameraucana mutts.
OH !!!Baby!!! Can't wait til morning!!! We put him in a big cage and in the laundry room NOT THE COOP tonight..

 

[ZepChick]

Oh that is SO cool! Make sure you quarantine himjust to make sure

eta: he sounds very handsome, I bet your ladies will love him!

 

[hcammack]

You should keep him seprate from your pullets for a full month or at least three weeks to make sure he doesn't have any diseases.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Yeah, practice good bio security!! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I know how you feel. I bought all the show winning serama hens and really wanted MORE!

 

[CCCChickenman]

Will Do,
We figured to keep them separate about 3 wks.
Our chix are not confined in a run, but I built one for quarantine purposes. I tried a "search" but came up mt, to eggcited probably, didn't search properly.I know I've read about introducing new birds to an existing flock somewhere..
My kids are going around the house @ 11:30 p.m. practicing "CROWING." ....Yeah Right !!
Life is going to change again, about 5 a.m. as we go thru the chicken thing the 4th time as the kids are getting older.
NOW it's my grandsons' turn to hear the early morning symphonies

 

[CCCChickenman]

New chick on the block.
I "knew" as soon as we walked into the front gate of the Colorado State Fair this evening,we would be going home with two more legs than we came with.
My wife, daughter and 12 year grandson...and me
bought a beautiful 5 month old Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel to go with our 17 pet pullets...7 Buff Orps, 5 RIR, 3 Barred Rox and 2 Ameraucana mutts.
OH !!!Baby!!! Can't wait til morning!!! We put him in a big cage and in the laundry room NOT THE COOP tonight...

 

[ZepChick]

CCC ~ that's good. I am glad your family is so excited about chickens. When we got some new birds, we kept them in a very large dog crate for a month. Then we just observed them and made sure there was no sneezing, watery eyes, mites, etc. We took them out in a separate area of the yard frequently (in a little separate cage we had) so they weren't indoors all of the time. Then, when it was time to integrate, we had a mesh screen in between them for a few days before we put the new girls in with our existing flock. I don't know if that is necessary, but we were concerned about the other girls picking on the new girls too much. Not sure if it would even matter with a roo, he will be the boss. Yay ! How exciting!

 

[CCCChickenman]

Hey Zepchick,
Does "separate" mean I can keep him in the large dog crate that he's sleeping in 2-nite Just as long as he has no physical contact with existing girls, or do I have to treat him like a turkey around chickens?
I have been ignorant about quarantining my chicks all these years. When we introduced new birds to our existing, and they didn't fight like cats & dogs, and they didn't go off their food, or water then they were good to go!!!

 

[ZepChick]

I don't know how you treat a turkey around chickens, cuz I don't have any turkeys! I would keep him in his crate with no contact with the ladies yet. I would wait about 4 weeks, making sure he is healthy, then let him meet his new girlfriends. Our new chickens we had indoors so that's why we had to take them out once in awhile, but to an area where the other chickens don't go. There have been some people on here who have accidentally introduced something to their flock, and the results were not good. So just be safe and enjoy your new roo!!