New in with the old

[momofdrew]

I had 4 white silkies 2 of them roos so I bought 2 blues girls about a week or so younger than the whites I know you need to keep them seprate for a period of time and they get to know each other with the fence between but when can I incorperate the new with the old with out too much bullying???

Pam

 

[Chirpy]

There's no way of knowing without actually doing it. Just make sure you are there for a long period of time afterwards to keep an eye on things and make sure you have Plan B ready if they don't get along.

If they are only a week apart in age they should do just fine together, but, I had some that didn't and they were only a week apart.

 

[cajunlizz]

I have 8 bantam cochrins .... I have them in a cage INSIDE my run area , where the rest of the flock see's them everyday . they been in there for about 2 months . and yesterday , we tried letting 1 hen out to join the flock and HOLY MOSES , we had to remove her QUICK ....

So , looks like we will have to build a separate coop and run just for the bantams , esp. since hubby wants to get more bantams ...

 

[VT Chick-lit]

I have a 2 year old Austrolorp and a 2 year old Wyondotte that I had to introduce my 2 new babies to. It wasn't easy. They needed to be about the same size as the old girls before I woulld even attempt the introduction. Before then, the babies were in a pen within the larger chicken run, so that the big girls could get use to them. At night they were in a cage in the chicken coop, next to where the big girls roost.

When it was time to introduce them without barriers, we first tried to introduce one of the now "teenagers" to both of the big girls. It was a peck fest. (Not Good) We then tried the reverse. We introduced one big girl to both of the teens. This was much better! No pecking!

The 2 to 1 ratio of teens to big girls (alternating the big girls)was kept up for a week before putting all of them together. There was still some pecking to establish a pecking order at that time but, it was not too bad. My husband or I manned a garden hose so that we could spray the big girls if it got too bad. This does not hurt them , but they do not like it one bit and stop what they are doing to get away

 

[Featherland]

How old are your Silkies? I have had much better success putting Silkies together than other kinds of chickens. You can try letting them "free-range" in neutral territory.

 

[cajunlizz]

In the city where I live , we can not have free ranging at all . they either have to be in cages or in an enclosed Coop and run .


My bantams are about 4 - 5 months old ...

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
The bigger their run or free-range area the quicker they can integrate. I added 4 "babies" when the babies were 8 weeks old.
I first let the younger ones out in the yard, enclosed in a small tractor for about a week during the day.
I then moved the brooder into the coop - the babies would free-range with the flock - and I put them in the brooder in the coop at night - with in a couple of days - I cut a hole into the brooder, that only the babies and bantams could fit through - (I have 18 total chickens 4 are bantams).
I added a small fenced off area in the run so the babies could run in but the big chickens couldn't. Most days the run is OPEN anyway - but just to be safe, they had the area in the run to hide, and the area in the coop (brooder) to hide.

There wasn't much "fighting" between them - the babies could run away, they got bullied a little bit but not too bad.


Point is - if you can free-range them, within a large area, there shouldn't bee much fighting going on.

You DO need to quarantine the new chickens, I'm not sure of the recomended time, but during the quarantine they should not have contact at ALL with your chickens.

 

[momofdrew]

e:
They did it...they are all sleeping in the coop...I left the cat carrier in the run just in case but when we went out to check after dark...the carrier was empty and it was quiet in the coop...

They shared their treats this afternoon with out whacking on the new girls...

 

[vfem]

Congrats!

My silkies meshed together well and quickly. Only had to use the crate for like 2 nights before we mixed 'em. Good breed for that!