what age do you put the young hens in with the older ones

[makluvsanimals]

thanks tammyfarms
yes she is on quaruntine now
that is what we were thinking we should do so ...yay i guess we picked a good idea

 

[Ninamm]

Peep was really cute today, "Honey" one of my Buffs was trying to lay and was in a box and Peep got in the box with her and was doing this "Purring" sound and snuggling up next to Honey. Honey just sat there and didn't mind it was really cute like Peep wanted a mama for a while. I should of Vidoed it.

 

[CinnamonQueen]

My RIR's are a little more aggressive than our Leghorn, but they don't peck them to death. Usually it's a "go away" peck.

 

[CinnamonQueen]

As long as they are separated by a fence, they should be ok. Since she is a rescue, you might want to quarantine though.

Just my thoughts, and I could be wrong, but I am thinking that when and how the adults react depends a lot on breed. I have had breeds that were more aggressive and those that were very docile. One chick escaped from the baby pen into the adult pen and was pecked so badly we had to put it down. I think that if it had gone into the other adult pen with the less aggressive birds it probably would have been fine. Of course, lots of space and places to hide are key and as mentioned earlier the ratio of adults to babies.

My RIR's are a little more aggressive than our Leghorn, but they don't peck them to death. Usually it's a "go away" peck.

I meant to put these together... oops.

 

[MetallicBlue]

We currently have 8 leghorns (no rooster) and are thinking that over the years we may add about 2 girls of different breeds at a time. Possibly a group of 2 every other year. We have lots of room both in the coop and yard for them, how much do I need to worry?

We are thinking about maybe stars or RIRs.

 

[marvun22]

We currently have 8 leghorns (no rooster) and are thinking that over the years we may add about 2 girls of different breeds at a time. Possibly a group of 2 every other year. We have lots of room both in the coop and yard for them, how much do I need to worry?

We are thinking about maybe stars or RIRs.

I'm not sure if this is an acceptable answer, because I don't completely know your situation. Adding 2 when there are 8 is hard. From my experiences, the best way to introduce is to have a new-old chicken ratio be at least 1/2. And unless you're adding 1 rooster to a flock where there is no roosters yet, never have just 1. I did that once and the bird got scared and ran off. I looked for 2 hours before finding her in a shadow of an old building. It was especially hard to find her because it was in the dark and it was a black australorp. I told my neighbor who I bought if from that the chicken was lonely and scared and offered to give it back to her. She was really nice and she sold me a Golden Laced Wyandotte so it wasn't lonely and scared.

 

[MetallicBlue]

My ratio would be way off if I did that. I guess we'll have to think more about it.

 

[Joanmcm]

Uh Oh. I have two four week old chicks (bought as packing peanuts for the two I wanted - which one was DOA, the other within 12 hours) and 6 that are eight weeks old - 5 hens, 1 rooster. What would be the best time to integrate? The little ones are way smaller then the 8 week olds right now. The older bunch are not as tame...they grew up sharing attention with 52 CX that have been processed. The two little ones get alot of individual attention and are pretty tame in comparison. Rooster is barred rock, older hens are 2 br, 2 rir, and one RIR cross I think. Younger ones - 1 RIR, 1 BR. Everyone is still chicks so I don't want to wait too long.

 

[barbjoecap]

We introduced our younger chickens (6 week age difference) by putting them into the coop with the older chickens for 3 weeks and separating them with chicken wire. They were living with each other. We spent a couple hours of introduction all together ~ put feed in the run and used a spray bottle every time one of the larger hens came pecking. The little hens made their way back into the coop while the older hens stay outside. No problems from that point on, they all slept together. So far so good!

 

[Jimfreebornfarm]

I just integrated my six young ones in to the pen and had a wire fence between them. Somehow 1 got out of their enclosure and was killed....I do not know how it happened but I am dismayed. I have 18 2 year olds and 6 4 month olds....they are about the same size as the older ones. I have a 25x50 foot pen.....