New flock/old flock--integrate or start fresh?

[chookchick]

I have to say I"m still really up in the air about this situation still. The GLW gets so upset when I bring in the chicks, that she mounts the others, pecks them and chases them. She has always been a nightmare to integrate with! So I'm pretty certain I want to get rid of her, along with the sick chicken.

That would leave just the other EE. She went through a molt and looks a bit "frowsy", but I think she is okay, just not laying. Every time the GLW lays an egg, she goes into a "mini broody" state for a couple of hours. She doens't complain about the chicks, so I think she would be okay with them. But won't it be hard on her to have to be alone, then integrate with a new young flock? Should I test her out with them?

My husband wants me to cull the old ones. I'm not a horrible, chicken-hating, cold-hearted person if I do, am I? My husband thinks it would be less of an imposition on the neighbor.

 

[bobbi-j]

There is nothing wrong with culling (which simply means to remove from the flock - how you do it is your business) birds that no longer fit into your flock.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have to say I"m still really up in the air about this situation still. The GLW gets so upset when I bring in the chicks, that she mounts the others, pecks them and chases them. She has always been a nightmare to integrate with! So I'm pretty certain I want to get rid of her, along with the sick chicken.

That would leave just the other EE. She went through a molt and looks a bit "frowsy", but I think she is okay, just not laying. Every time the GLW lays an egg, she goes into a "mini broody" state for a couple of hours. She doens't complain about the chicks, so I think she would be okay with them. But won't it be hard on her to have to be alone, then integrate with a new young flock? Should I test her out with them?

My husband wants me to cull the old ones. I'm not a horrible, chicken-hating, cold-hearted person if I do, am I? My husband thinks it would be less of an imposition on the neighbor.

If you decide to keep the EE, you may be able to integrate her with the chicks as soon as they come off heat. Many of us have found that it's easier to integrate chicks into a flock when they are younger, until waiting till they go through "chickie puberty". (They loose their "peep, and get their cluck, or start crowing".

And, no, you are not a chicken-hating, cold-hearted person to cull older birds from your flock. Sometimes I sell my older hens. Other times I cull them. It all depends on the quality of the bird, and the value left in her as an egg producer. Many of us keep a flock for the benefit it provides, and when a bird is no longer productive, she gets replaced. Every flock owner has his/her own management style, and there is no one right way to do it.