Introducing my girls together

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Lynette

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Good Evening,

Sadly I lost my Dad in January and I inherited his chickens. I wished now that I asked him loads of questions but thank goodness for me I have found this site.

I have young chickens that were born by 'Living egg' in February and another pair that were born during Easter. I would like to introduce them together but I worry about the older girls not being kind to the younger ones.

I have introduced them together in to a large open space and today I attempted to confine the space but the younger girls were very fretful and stressed. What should I do? I would like them to be together as the living space is bigger.

Any advice would be great.

Lynette
 

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Hello :)
If you're still out there and they all went together in the same house, make sure you are up with the larks to let them out so if there is any bullying, they have the room to get out of the way!
There are many strings on here about "introducing new chickens" (try using the search) which will give you plenty of good advice. Main one is to make sure there are plenty of separate eating and drinking points scattered about, keep a close eye on them for the next few days and expect fights. They need to have them to settle everyone into their new flock order. Let them fight, just don't let them draw blood, if they do, get them out but keep them within sight of everyone if you can. Not sure how the different ages of chickens will react to each other though so wait on others to respond.
Sure you'll get more advise from other people, but good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
Hi Lynette, and welcome. I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad, but I'm sure he would be glad to know you are looking after his chickens.
How old in weeks are the younger ones? Its not very easy to introduce them to older birds until the younger ones are at least 18 weeks, and it would be better if possible to keep the younger ones on growers pellets until at least 16 weeks, longer is good.
Were they sleeping separately before you introduced them? If you put the new ones in the coop after dark when they are all asleep, they wake up together and all smell the same, which seems to be less threatening for them next day than if new ones are suddenly introduced into a run with resident older ones. But it sounds as if you've got beyond this stage anyway and as BabyBantam says, you just have to wait for for them to settle down, assuming the scrapping isn't too serious. If you have any spare netting or wire mesh, it will be handy if any of them does become injured ie pecked until bleeding, as if you separate her out of sight of the others in order to heal up, it will be even harder to reintroduce her when she is better.its difficult to watch them looking so unhappy but it should get better over the next few days. If you have plenty of space, it might be good to just let them use it - they might not look as if they are communicating with each other, but they will be, in their own way. Let us know how they get on.
 
Thank you so much for your advice.

I believe they are about 14 weeks so I am going to wait until they are 18 weeks until I try again. I will continue to allow them to be together in a big open space. I do like the idea of putting the smaller girls in the coop after dark so I will try that once they are 18 weeks. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks again for your guidance.

Lynette
 
Good Evening,

Well I decided after spending the whole day with them in each others company in a large space to allow them to be introduced together.

I have placed many more water and food stations and placed the smallest girls into the coop. Due to the slighter bigger girls being so nosey they got up. I waited there until they all settled and went back to bed. I have a horse so will be up very early, before I go to see her, to let the chickens out and hopefully watch them eat breakfast together.... Positive thinking.

I will keep you posted...
 
They seem to be getting along well. The little girls seem a little nervous still and I am still going to make sure they go to bed at night but so far so good.
 
Sounds like all going well, but keep an eye on them for at least a couple of weeks just to be sure :)
 
Pleased it is working out Lynette. Spats can flare up at any time so as Baby bantam says ,keep a close eye on them.

Doesn't matter how much experience you have things still go wrong we've discovered. Separated little badly bullied Prudence from her TNN sisters and tried to introduce her to the adults she has been alongside for a month. Had to pull her out after an hour of daylight as they were killing her! So now we will try her with the fluffy Orpingtons. She has to go somewhere as we are moving South and we need her coop. I don't think she will make a very good house hen as I can see her flying onto the wardrobes to roost.
 
Ah that is a shame. I will keep my fingers crossed that she settles with the fluffy Orpingtons.

My some girls would happily be house hens however I don't think my house friend would appreciate it. I had to keep them in my room until it was warm enough for them to go outside (I got them from a living egg company. The chicks were hatched in a incubator).
 
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