New to Backyard Chickens - Need some advice...

Date sort Score sort
WickedChickHens

WickedChickHens

Hatching
Sep 12, 2015
3
0
7
I could use some sage backyard chicken advice. Last month, we started with a flock of 4 hens: a 15-week old Buff Orpington (now about 5 months), a 15-week old Swedish Flower (also 5 months now), 12-week old Ameraucana (now 4 months), and 10-week old Barred Rock. We lost our sweet little BR to a (probable) congenital heart defect. The bird dude raising them brought us a young Swedish Flower today, about 11 weeks old. En route to our coop, she was pecked by some older hens. He treated her with no-peck which we will continue to do and we have her in a holding pen where the hens can see her and she them, but she is safe from any harm. She actually wants to be with them, but our older SF tried to peck her through the enclosure. We've since isolated her outside the run in a more secure area. I have a few questions:

1. How long should normal integration to the flock take? What would you recommend?

2. Should we expect it to be longer now that she needs to heal?

3. Our main coop (roost and feed run) is 88.2" (L) × 37.0" (W) × 56.3" (H), within a 10' x 10' run. Is this too small for 4 hens?

4. Anyone have experience discerning sex of the Swedish Flower. Bird dude seems to think her tail feathers and possible buds on her legs might indicate Elsa is actually Sven. Her pelvis seems too wide to be a roo, according to some other chicken experts.

Thanks in advance!
 
Im sure other members will be able to advise further, but for sure she must heal completely before integrating with the flock. Any blood is like a red rag to a bull (or chicken) and they will peck her if they see blood. Make sure that she has no scabs that could possibly bleed before considering an introduction.

All the best
CT
 
I am by no means an expert here. I'm fairly new to chicken raising myself. I do recall reading somewhere that a good rule of thumb for new bird integration to an existing flock is the 40/40 rule: 40 days in quarantine at least 40 feet away from your flock. From what I understand it allows your new bird to heal from any possibly contagious infections she/he may have so as not to infect your existing flock. This would give your new bird ample time to heal from her issues.

As for coop size: it seems to be just large enough for 4 hens but I wouldn't add any more without adding another coop or building a larger coop to accommodate more ladies.

I can't sex a chicken. Sorry!
 
You should let her heal completely. If she has any bald patches let them have time to grow back in, and if she has any discolored areas, those need time to return to its normal color.
It ask might help if they are relative in size when she is reintroduced.
 
Last edited:
Rule of thumb is 4-5 sq.feet per bird inside the coop excluding roost and nest boxes. 10 sq. feet per bird in the outdoor run. If all your birds have come from the "bird dude," they were probably exposed to his other birds, so quarantine may not be necessary -
 
welcome-byc.gif


Integration is a delicate thing and to prevent injuries, it has to be carefully done. There's an excellent article about it in the Learning Center:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

There's a Swedish Flower Hen thread where you might find some help sexing your bird:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/375288/swedish-flower-hen-thread

Thanks for joining us!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom