New hens attacking my chicks

[amberskyfire]

I have seven ~13 week-old speckled Sussex chicks who I absolutely adore. A friend of mine is having an emergency and needed to have her chickens gone by tomorrow. The person who was supposed to show up never did, so I drove over to her house tonight and got the hens. There are four of them and they are all a year old: three Ameraucanas and a RIR.

I brought them back to my place and wasn't sure what to do, so I put all four of them in the henhouse with my chicks. (I realize now that this was probably foolish - I've never had two different ages of birds together before). I figured since they were all sleeping, everybody would leave everybody alone. Well, one of the new hens started attacking my chicks, so I removed all four hens from the henhouse and put them in the garage in crates for the night.

How should I go about things tomorrow morning? How do I introduce the new hens to my current flock? I don't want to lose one of my chicks. I lost one already and I don't want to lose any more. They are gorgeous and so sweet and loving.

 

[boskelli1571]

Good morning,
Firstly, you should keep both flocks separate for at least 3-4 weeks, consider it quarantine. Both flocks may look healthy, but could be carrying something the other flock is susceptible to - this can cause huge losses in both flocks,
At around 2 weeks into quarantine, you can put the 'caged girls' in an area where they can be seen, but not touched by your ladies.
At the end point, put the new girls in with the others at night. Yes- there will be pecking, feather pulling etc. as they establish their pecking order, keep a close eye on them for the first few days to make sure no-one is being picked on unmercifully.
Good luck in your endeavors, keep us posted

 

[amberskyfire]

Thank you! The friend who gave them to me has some fencing supplies and corrugated roofing, so I'm building a small enclosure for them next to my coop to live in for a while. She has some nest boxes I can have as well. I can free-range the big girls as I live in the country on a well-fenced ( high chain link) acre.

 

[boskelli1571]

Excellent! Your 'new 'coop will be able to house all the little chickies you can't resist in future

Just remember to quarantine anything that's new - it seems a bit cruel, but it can mean the difference between life & death - literally. Send pix!!