Positive Stories of Introduction of New Chickens

[norcal]

Can I hear some positive stories of introducing new chickens into the flock?
All the stories here seem to be horror stories.

I'm about to introduce some 8 wk olds in w/ 12 wk olds.
Then I'm going to have to introduce them all (eventually) to our yr old BR's.
Yikes.

 

[bigoakhunter]

I hope it goes well for you. Tomorrow i am going to introduce four-5 week olds to a dozen- 8 week olds. Lots of people say to do it at night. I am going to do it during the day when I am around to watch/supervise.

 

[Shannon's Chix]

If I don't have anything positive to say...I won't say anything at all!

Good luck!

 

[clowngrl]

I have 2, 1 year old silkies (1 hen 1 rooster) and 2, 1 year old EE hens in a pen together. This year I got 28 mixed bantams. When they were about 5 weeks old I divided the pen and put the babies outside. 3 days ago I opened the divider to put them together and there wasnt a single problem. The rooster even calls the babies over to eat. I was very surprised it went so well.
Hopefully yours will go as easy.
Good Luck

 

[Bandit]

I put 8-week old chicks in a pen next to our free-ranging adult chickens. After a week, I opened the gate and there were no problems once the adults let the little ones know they were the bosses. No really mean stuff, just a little peck if the smaller ones get in the way. I thought it was really successful letting the big ones be next to the little ones for a week before letting them mix together.

 

[underground chickenman]

I just put my eight 10-week old chickens in with 15 month old hens. I just tossed them all in together at once. No introduction. No time or patience for it. The old girls kept the young ones away from the food and water at first, so I would go in the coop a few times a day to shoo the old girls out of the way to let the young ones eat and drink. After two or three days, they pretty much acted like they all belonged together. No bloodshed or injuries.

Good luck.

UGCM

 

[gryeyes]

My introductions have gone well. I do put the young ones in separate coop & pen arrangements, but these are still within the entire run where all the Big Chickens roam when I'm at work. I keep them in there for at least two weeks. They get to see each other, hear each other, interact through the fences between them.

Then on a weekend, when I have let the Big Chickens out to free range (but they come back in the run to their coop(s) to lay, and to eat feed or drink water), I open the pen for the youngsters and just let them come out on their own, as they gradually do.

I continue to keep feed in the youngsters' pen, as well as in the Big Chickens' coop. The BCs will go into the youngsters' pen and check out the feeder and waterer there, to make sure it's not something better than what they have been getting. But it still gives TWO locations for sustenance so the BCs cannot keep the youngsters from eating/drinking.

If a youngster gets pushy, it gets pecked and chased a couple of feet. No major chasing, no major pecking, no mayhem.

After the kids have scoped out the entire run (except for the BC's coop, which they only peek into, not enter) they eventually make their way to the open run gate and will hesitantly go "free range" a few feet from the gate.

Now, three weeks later, the youngsters tend to roam in their teen pack, but they all come running when it's treat time.

 

[kendra1178]

I am new at this, so I didn't even realize there were horror stories about this. I had my chicks in my house for 5 weeks. Once my husband built our coop, we bought 4 one year old hens because we want eggs NOW....LOL. After the hens had been in the coop for about a week, we started out letting the the chicks out in the yard with the hens. The chicks got picked on occasionally, but I think it was just to let them know whose boss. Nothing major at all. At night the hens went in the coop, and the chicks came back in the house. Then, at about 5 and a half weeks old, we let the chicks spend the night in the coop. We had a heat lamp out there, which really seemed to irritate the hens. After a couple nights, we stopped using the heat lamp because it was getting warmer out, and the chicks slept in a pile, far away from the lamp anyway. They have all been together full time for about 2 weeks now. Everything has worked out perfectly. They don't intermingle or anything. The chicks are one flock, and the hens are another. We have some more chicks in the garage now. They are only a week and a half now. But when they get bigger, I plan to do the same thing.

 

[3chimama]

I have 8 week olds and 1 year olds and will have to mix them together soon...I was relieved to read some of the posts!

 

[norcal]

Yes, thanks for the positive stories. We had to cage our one chick/hen that was 4 wks older than the newbies for a few days. Now they are all palls. I am a bit scared to put them in with the old grumps though.

Soon I guess.