New hens

[Terrik]

Being new to this "hen mother" thing I have a question. We aregetting three new 1 yr old hens tomorrow is there anything I need to do to introduce the new hens to the "old" hens? Thanks for your help and advise in advance.

 

[maybejoey]

I would let them be seperated but in a way that they can see each other for 3-4 days.

 

[geekgurl]

I recommend putting the new hens in quarantine for at least 2 weeks, preferably 30 days. There's too many heartbreaking stories of new chickens bringing in a bad respiratory illness to the original flock. Not to mention the possibility of parasites. After that if you can section off a piece of your run for a couple weeks so the chickens can see but not touch each other they can get used to each other. I find that works with free ranging supervised sessions so the new hens can have plenty of room to get away if chased or pecked. When you decide to integrate, many people say to put the new girls on the roost at night when everyone has gone to roost and are sleeping.
I just got done integrating a single 17 week old pullet into a small flock of 3 twenty five week old hens. This all worked for me.
Cheers
Melissa

 

[JulieNKC]

Quote:
Very well said, I agree!

 

[so lucky]

The experts will tell you the new girls need to be quarantined (sp?) and observed for a month before you try to put them together. Probably you have not made arrangements for this and it is too late to do it now? It would require having a separate pen, not adjoining. This would be for preventing any illness the new chickens might have from spreading to your existing flock. Although it is the safe thing to do, I actually doubt that most BYCers do this. Many of our decisions are made on impulse, I fear.