I have a new coop and run that has never housed chickens. I have a unique opportunity to adopt chickens from 2 different sources. I have a friend that is gifting me some of her chickens (4 of them) and shortly after she said she wanted to give me chickens a lady that I had worked with needs to give up her chickens (4). Will this be a good idea to bring 2 different flocks together into neutral ground at the same time? How would one go about doing this? When I do a search the only resources I find are introducing new chickens to an already established flock.
I forgot to mention that both groups are young and are just about ready to lay their first eggs.
Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.
It may be a fabulous opportunity, it may be a disaster. With living animals no one can give you guarantees one way or the other. There are different factors that play into it like sex, age, and personality of the individuals, your integration techniques, and how much room you have. What breeds are they? Some of that will be luck, some you have control over.
Before I give too many specific suggestions on how I'd do it in your situation I'd need to know what your specific situation is. In feet or meters how big is your coop and your run? Some photos on how they are put together could be a big help, inside the coop and outside. In general it takes more room too integrate than for them to live together once they have worked out the pecking order and learned to live together as one flock.
Do you know why they are giving up their chickens? Point of lay sounds like a strange time. Are they dealing with parasites, diseases, or behavioral problems or are they simply at a point in life where keeping chickens is not right for them? Are there any red flags? There may be legitimate reasons they are giving up their chickens. Chickens can tie you down and interfere with your lifestyle. It's not like you can board them for a week if you want to visit grandkids. Some find that the work is more than they anticipated, or they made it inconvenient for themselves the way things were set up. If I were taking someone's chickens like that I'd want to know why they are giving them up.
Why do you want chickens? What are your goals? If you are set up so it is convenient for you it doesn't have to be that hard or time consuming. Many of us really enjoy it. You don't need to tell us why but you might want to decide if you will be in it for the long haul.
Tell us what you can about the chickens and your set-up. Maybe we can help make your start easier and the whole experience more enjoyable.
Good luck!