I have a leg horn that has been laying for about a week. It turns out her friend is a Roo so he has to go. Do I introduce a new hen? We don't have a great big yard so a separate coop isn't an option. Thanks!!
Well, members here always say you have to quarantine a new bird for a while so that you know they are disease free. So I need to point that out. However, alot of people don't have a separate place to put new birds. For me personally, if I knew and trusted the person I was buying the new hen from, I would just go ahead and put them together right away, especially if you only have just one established hen. I would try and get one the same age and size, because they will probably quarrel and peck at eachother a little bit at first. If you put a small hen with a big one, then the bigger hen can do some serious damage. Try putting in a very tasty treat for your established hen when you introduce the new one. Maybe that will distract her and she won't be so upset that a new hen is in her territory.
X2..... If I know the person I am getting the bird from I don't worry about quarantine, There is someone that lives in the next town from and we have traded back and forth with no worries... I did early last year buy 4 pullets from a lady, I couldn't see her whole set up as she had them in a separate area in anticipation for me picking them up, I did separate those four for a week to make sure they were healthy. Anyone I sell my chickens to I always recommend separating them even tho I have never lost a chicken to disease, Just to be safe.
I agree with chicmom. This spring, I added three new hens to the three I already had. I got them from someone I know so I wasn't really worried about keeping them quarantined. I would try to get one that's about the same size as the one you have now. My girls free range so what I did was put the new girls in the run off the coop for the day and let the old girls roam and that way they saw each other through the pen for most of the day before they actually met. Good luck.
Is chicken jail inside the coop sufficient for quarantine or are you suggesting a whole separate building?
That's how I do it, I have a chick run that run alongside the main coop separated by nothing more than simple chicken wire. Partition off an area where they can see and hear each other but no contact
A quarantine must have a distance between the quarantine pen and the home coop, the recommended distance is 300 feet. There are many things that can be transmitted through the air and some things like mites that can travel on their own. As chicmom said many members do not have the facilities to do a proper quarantine. If you don't chose where you get you chicken accordingly