adding to the flock

[clucking chicks]

Please could anyone in the know pass on some tips about adding to my little flock of chickens? My girls are all settled and have been with us since last summer and as I was warned by you guys, I'd want more! Can I add just one more or will she be bullied?

Uh oh. I'm hooked!

 

[Chuck]

Unless you are very lucky, any new ones are likely to get bullied. If you go ahead, be sure to have a backup plan or you may get severe injuries.

 

[mollteaser]

If its any help, I've just added 2 to my 3, they were together at night and separate but seen in the day. This was for a week, and they are now in the pen together, seem ok...a few squawks and pecks. 3 sources of food and water, a few hiding places, and plenty of things to do ( leaf pile, perches, cabbages...) I do have a sin bin, however.

 

[VALBURNHAM]

they are addictive arnt they. My advise would be dont add just one as she would get a real hard time I would say minimum two. I put them so the old girls can see the newbies but not get to them for a couple of days if you have the facilities to do this. There is bound to be scuffles when they first get together and you do need to keep an eye on them make sure no blood is spilt but it does settle eventually. Good luck

 

[AlexArt]

After first keeping any new birds well away from the others for the first 6 weeks to make sure they are fit and well just to be on the safe side. I usually chuck any newbies in at the deep end - I put them in to roost with the others in the dark so they wake up with the newbies - generally they don't notice until they come out for food, then there is the odd scuffle over rank and that's it! - far better than them just appearing in the run!

 

[Marigold]

Yes, definitely two minimum. I tried introducing a singleton, but only did it once as it was so difficult for her and she never really got accepted by the other two I had at the time. I've found that, if you give them some time together separately, a new pair will form a bond which supports them through the integration period, and they will then go around together as 'best friends' thereafter.
From the health point of view, it's undoubtedly best to give complete quarantine for several weeks, as Alex says, but for many of us this isn't very possible, for reasons of space etc. I've maybe been lucky so far, but I've found that it's been OK to divide my run with netting and provide a temporary coop for the newbies, so they can see the older hens and get to know them a bit through the netting. This has worked OK for me so far because I've always bought direct from a known and trusted breeder, rather than eg from a market or sale, where the birds will have been subjected to extra stress, lowering their immune systems, and making it more likely that any disease they've picked up in their unknown backgrounds will emerge.

 

[chrismahon]

I agree with Marigold -introducing single birds is extremely problematic. We've done it several times and it takes couple of months and introduction has to be in open ground with separations and recovery time from fights. Unless you use the disorientation method which needs a large spare coop. Apply quarantine on the new hen first. Then take all your existing hens out and into temporary accomodation, put the new one in their coop and introduce them after a few days or so, one per day. Don't try to introduce youngsters under 20 weeks anyway as they will usually get beaten up, as they are too small to defend themselves. I always advise to wait until one of them is laying, then you know they are fully developed.

 

[Stapfam]

Just had to introduce a single chook to 8 others. I have a small quarantine run that I placed alongside the other girls and put one of the others in with her for a week. This single girl came from my daughter and it has proved to be an aggressive bird. Yesterday I put them all together in the run and it was mayhem. The new bird was bullied extensively and this was continuing today. So tonight I have separated her with one of the bullies in the quarantine run. They are getting on fine so will try again next week.

 

[chrismahon]

Very good idea Stapfam. When there are two it is much easier. You have given me another method for integrating one hen -just take one out and put her with the newbee. We let our new hens free range with the others before putting them in the run together so they have room to manouvre in a fight. Margo, a Buff Laced Wyandotte, fought off 7 Blue Laced Wyandottes, one after the other, until I saw she was tiring and put her and her sister back in their run. Next day there were only 3 challengers and she went in as top hen.