Adding chickens advice please

[mandi plus five]

Hi

I would like your advice on introducing new chickens to my gang of six. We have today purchased three 10wk old Pekins and a 10 wk old Orpington.

My other six chickens have full run of our garden during the day and are put in at night. I was just wondering the best way to get them all to live harmoniously. They are presently in another coop with an attached run, but I would obviously like them all to be out together, how best do I go about this, is there a certain timescale, do I just let them out together for short periods etc

Any advice gratefully received

Thanks

Amanda

 

[foxy]

Hello Mplus5, your new chooks are rather young at 10 weeks, plus being pekins may be need a bit extra care in integrating, that does also depend on your existing breed, soft feather pure breeds do tend to be more tolerant, that's just my experience, soft feather breeds do seem to get on rather well...such as orpingtons, brahmas, cochins and faverolles. Hybrids I find tend to be less so accommodating of newbies.
I would keep them separated in their runs for a while yet, if you can have the houses and runs close together, that will help in them getting them familiar. Later, allow little " meet and greets" in neutral territory, such as free-ranging in your garden.

 

[victorias poultry]

Hi
I agree with fozy, the 10 week olds are too young to mix with your older girls, ideally want to be kept seperate until 18 weeks of age.
Personally I would keep the pekins in their own seperate house and run, your other girls will go upto thir run and have a nose and chit chat through the wire for the next few weeks. Hope all goes well.

 

[mandi plus five]

Thanks

I have three Orpingtons, light sussex, Maran and Pekin/Wyandotte bantam, which have all been together since April, will just let them settle in and see how they get on, my only concern is the Light Sussex as she is quite bossy, the other five are really docile and friendly, thanks for the advice.

 

[karlooben]

i had this prob with my chicks i hatched sometimes i think i let them in with the big girls a bit to early and now one min they are in with the new ex batts { who are finding thier feet big time } and sometimes in the main run with the big girls but housing them is turning out to be very differcult so the poor little mites are in the rabbit hutch although tonight i may put 5 ex batts into one of the houses and place 3 in with the chicks in the other house and see how they get on .i would agree and leave them just that bit longer , i have today tried letting my ex batts in with the old girls and there was some fighting so i put them all back where they were all in thier own seprate runs so i think it will be next wekend that all my birds will come together as one large flock . all i need to do now is sort out some good housing for the new girlies as although they will all be in the same they wont be all housed together .

 

[true-bantam-mad]

Pekins are small any way, so i would keep them apart until they are fully grown
Dan

 

[Anonymous]

I tried to introduce 2 new younger Pekins to a Pekin and 3 bantam Wyandottes and it didn't go well so we kept them seperate. I learnt from that and when I wanted to add more I bought 4 POL Pekins and had no bother with them at all. Size matters so it seems! :lol: