New chicks are available!

[Didymus]

Our 4 hens are all good. But I kind of wanted 2 more. My husband is against it though. We have 4 hens, not really pretty, 3 brown and 1 white. So what is 2 more. (the limit we have.) But there is the integrating thing, which I know nothing about, and they are totally free range in a large area, like the whole backyard. I don't know if they were vaccinated against Merek's, but would well be sure of that. My hens are healthy, never have been egg bound, we can't have roo's. But then if we got one, we would have to re home it. Any advise or thoughts, I am open.

 

[TwoCrows]

It is always nice to add to your flock. Integrating new birds takes a few weeks of keeping the new birds behind a fenced area or in a cage, both of these within the flock so everybody sees, no body touches. After a few weeks, the original flocks pecking order will have worked out much of the aggressions. Of course you will want to watch them all for that first week and always intervene if it turns bloody.

But there is always danger when adding new birds to a healthy flock. Birds become immune to their surroundings. So when new birds are brought in, or moved to new grounds, there are new bacterias and virus's that birds have to now learn to deal with. And especially if you bring started birds into a new flock, you don't really know the history behind their health.

Not trying to scare you away, just want you to be aware of the possibilities. Lots of people bring in new birds all the time with no issues what so ever. And of course, you can NEVER have too many chickens!

Good luck and enjoy your flock!

 

[Wol1]

Sex links would solve the roo problem. Boys and girls hatch out different colors. We have golden comets given to us by neighbors. The girls hatch gold and the boys hatch white.

I kept the golden comets separate from the older birds for several weeks until they were big enough to fight for themselves and I could see they didn't have any obvious illnesses. They stayed in a little group for "safety" for the first few weeks they were with the "big girls". They were fully integrated into the flock in about a month. If I did it again, I would put them in a fenced off area as suggested above.

 

[Didymus]

Thanks for your advise! It will be followed.