This morning after I put the tomato incident behind me, The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I introduced all of baby chicks to the older chickens. Introducing new chickens into your existing flock can be kind of tricky. So I thought I would tell you how we have handled it each spring.
When the chicks are a few weeks old we take them out one by one for introduce them to the older chickens for a minute or two so they can get a good look at them. When the chicks have reached 8-10 weeks we then set up a sort of “chicken meet and greet.” This year we attached a 4 foot by 10 chicken run right up against the older chickens yard. We let the younger chickens play next to the older ones for a few hours each day.
By introducing the younger chicks sort of half-way, it helps to alleviate the older chickens from pecking the younger ones. By the time we place the younger ones in with the older hens {at about 12 weeks old} the novelty of them has pretty much worn off and they don’t get pecked at nearly as much. I think going nice and slow is the way to do it if you have the space.
Do you have chickens? What has your experience with introducing new chickens into you existing flock been?
~Mavis
If you are thinking about raising chickens, Amazon currently has The Joy of Keeping Chickens on sale for $10.17 and it is packed with all sorts of great information.
Holly G says
We wait until night time when the older hens are asleep and then slip the new ones in the coop with them. Apparently, hens don’t have great memories and they wake up thinking the new hens have been there all along. It’s worked well for us for years.
Mavis says
Seriously? It works? I think I would be afraid a young chicken would get pecked in the middle of the night. I’ll have to tell The Girl about this.
Angela says
Wow! I’ve never heard of the “slip them in while hens are sleeping” method. That’s really interesting! We kinda do the same as you…have them where they can see and get to know each other for awhile, then introduce.
Chickens are so funny…we have chicken ” cliques” -The older hens, the middle agers, the teens, and the babies. Recently the master of the older hens (aka Mr. Stud) got kicked out of his group and a rooster from the teens took over. I felt bad for him…:( He now spends his nights in the barn away from the rest of the chickens. Getting old is tough I guess…
Kamy says
Hello Mavis…..
First, I would just like to tell you how much I enjoy and have learned from your website:)
Next, I have a question….we have started the adventure of keeping chickens and just got our first four yesterday. My ten year old daughter ,who is a huge animal lover ,has been so excited to care for them and could hardly contain herself yesterday when we brought them home. They all got settled in thier brooder box and of course got named …then the unthinkable happened…my daughter woke up this morning and ran into check on the chicks only to find we lost “dandelion ” the rhode island white. So, I was just wondering if we had done something wrong…they were held quite a bit yesterday…should we not do that so much in these younger days? Thanks for any advice …and hope you have a great day!
Thanks,
Kamy
Mavis says
Oh Kamy that is so sad. 🙁 I have never had to deal with that so I’m not sure if the chick was handled to much or not. If you are talking about a day old {or two or three day old chick} maybe it wasn’t getting enough food or water? Last year we didn’t think one of our chicks was going to make it because all she did was lay there and didn’t have enough energy to stand. Maybe poor little Dandelion was just too tired from her journey?
🙁 Mavis
rose marie blanc says
Thanks for the above comments. The 3 hens and two roosters (4 months old) have been separated but right next to the older hens in their own run, so they are used to seeing each other. I guess I just have to be brave and let them out with the others. I have been raising chickens for many years, and every time I am faced with this, I just about have a panic attack thinking about them getting hurt. It is so interesting to read others’ experiences with chickens. I really enjoy them.
Rose
Mendy says
I have read about the slow intro method and the put the new girls in at night…our plans are to do both, but I was wondering how old your chicks are when you put them on the roost? And how does every one get along in the am…or should I plan to wake early to referee? 🙂
Mavis says
I have had great success with sneaking the new hens in at night. The last batch went out to the coop around 8 weeks I believe.
Amanda says
How do you know when your hens are sleeping to slip in the newbies ?
Heidi says
I’ve done it one time. 2 bantams added with my 3 larger chickens. Crate next to the coop for about a week. After that in the coop. Nope, my girls are too prissy to let any outsiders in. Gertie always sounded like she was growling. Turns out both bantams were roosters and I had to get rid of them. I also have 6 ducks..who are afraid of Gertie who growls at them too. The other chickens really don’t care either way. She may just be spoiled because I held her all the time as a chick and she gets first peck at all the treats.
This spring I’m going to add about 5 more. We’ll see what happens