Hello all!
I currently have 4 Australorp hens who are about 20 to 24 weeks old. Their pecking order seems pretty well established, with one hen being the obvious leader. There has not been a lot of pecking or fighting amongst themselves. They were all introduced at the same time to the run and coop. Now they spend most of their day free ranging in my backyard.
Now on to my question....
Tomorrow or Friday I will have two new started pullets arriving. One will be another Australorp, and one will be a silver laced wyandotte. They should be around 15 weeks or a little older. I know that they will be slightly smaller than my existing girls. They are arriving from a hatchery, and have all necessary immunizations, etc.
So hopefully I will get the call fairly early, so that the girls are just waking up. I plan to introduce them to the coop. But should I keep the entire flock locked up for a couple days, or let them free range and hope the new girls learn from the existing flock?
Any help will be appreciated. I would think that the new girls would need some time to learn that the coop is home and is where the food is...but on the other hand, I feel that they might learn from the older ones, and the free ranging would give them some space if they need to work the pecking order out...
I currently have 4 Australorp hens who are about 20 to 24 weeks old. Their pecking order seems pretty well established, with one hen being the obvious leader. There has not been a lot of pecking or fighting amongst themselves. They were all introduced at the same time to the run and coop. Now they spend most of their day free ranging in my backyard.
Now on to my question....
Tomorrow or Friday I will have two new started pullets arriving. One will be another Australorp, and one will be a silver laced wyandotte. They should be around 15 weeks or a little older. I know that they will be slightly smaller than my existing girls. They are arriving from a hatchery, and have all necessary immunizations, etc.
So hopefully I will get the call fairly early, so that the girls are just waking up. I plan to introduce them to the coop. But should I keep the entire flock locked up for a couple days, or let them free range and hope the new girls learn from the existing flock?
Any help will be appreciated. I would think that the new girls would need some time to learn that the coop is home and is where the food is...but on the other hand, I feel that they might learn from the older ones, and the free ranging would give them some space if they need to work the pecking order out...
