Last night The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and I introduced our 3 baby cochin chicks to the older chickens. People have said introducing new chickens into your existing flock can be kind of tricky, but this year it was ridiculously easy for us. In years past we have placed the younger chickens in a fence off area alongside the chicken run for a few days so the birds could get acquainted, but this year we decided to do something a little different.
Lucy our puggle dog outgrew her pet fence weeks ago, so we took the 3 foot high fence outside and set it up within the chicken run around 2 pm. We placed our 3 blue cochin chicks inside the fenced area along with their food and water so the other chickens could get a good look at them.
Our older birds don’t even flinch when lucy the puggle dog runs up to the coop anymore, so we figured they probably wouldn’t bat an eye if a couple of puff balls joined their clan.
Maroon, one of our Rhode Island Red hens immediately took to them. She hunkered down next to the fence and stayed their for a good 3 hours. We weren’t sure if she wanted first dibs on the chicks or if her motherly instincts set in and she was just watching over them.
Around 6pm we brought the 8 week old chicks out one at a time. Nothing happened. It was business as usual around the coop. The older chickens didn’t care one bit.
Except Maroon of course, she followed the chicks around like a mamma hen.
Once the chicks had moved away from their food and water, the older chickens moved in and had themselves a little feast. At nightfall once all the older hens had gone into the coop to roost for the night, my daughter picked up the baby chicks and placed them inside the coop in the nesting boxes.
This morning when she opened the doors, the chickens and the 8 week old chicks all came out. Business as usual. Talk about an easy transition.
I don’t know about you, but I love it when there is no drama. Ha!
Do you have chickens? What has your experience with introducing new chickens into you existing flock been?
~Mavis
If you would like to learn more about raising chickens and all the fun and excitement it brings… Check out The Joy of Keeping Chickens By Jennifer Megyesi. It will tell you everything you need to know.
Jennie C. says
I bring new chicks into the coop at sundown. Seems like after a whole night listening to each other cluck and crow, they think they’ve been together forever by dawn. I do give the little ones a covered area of their own, though, small enough to keep the big chickens out, just in case there’s any bullying. We’ve never had any issues doing it this way.
Mavis says
Yep, I agree with Jennie C. 🙂
Katie says
wish my experience was the same. we’ve had our (6) 6wk chicks outside in a run next to our older hens for about 2wks now. In SC, we can put them outside sooner 🙂 Anyway, we opened up the area between the two last week and our older hens got territorial and started running at the babies and pecking at them. Even picking up two of them by their wings. so, the fence between the two went back up 🙁 any tips from anyone on how to make it one big flock? i don’t want to build two coops.
Sheryl G says
A very smart guy told us to dab just a touch a Vicks Vaporub on the back of every chicken’s head, both the old & the newbies. We did it and put them all together. They couldn’t tell who was who and by the time it wore off, they were peacefully integrated. It worked for us!
Mavis says
Wow! I have never heard of that before. I may have to try that if there is a problem. Thanks!
Mavis says
Hi Katie, I would wait until they are at least 8 weeks to place them together. You might also want to add the younger chicks to the coop when it’s dark. We did that last year and it worked liked a charm. All the chickens came out of the coop the next morning like they had all been living together for years.
Katie says
thanks guys, i will give these ideas a try. we are moving in a few weeks and hoping that a new place will give the girls a new perspective.
Heidi says
Hi Katie,
I’m so sorry for your difficulty with your new chicks. We just added eight new chicks to our existing six chickens. I did it very slowly. First at about 8 or 9 weeks I cut a whole in their brooder big enough for the babies to get out but not let the big chickens in (I also made windows with chicken wire so they could be seen from all angles. I left the brooder in the chicken run where the big chickens were all day long. Slowly over a few days the chicks would venture out further and further until they all were happy together & didn’t care who was who any longer. After about 10 weeks of age I removed the brooder all together. I made sure there were lots of distractions for the big hens. Treats, etc. The chicks wouldn’t go into the coop at night so I would pick them up individually and put them inside at night. After about a week of doing this they all started going in the coop at night. Wa La 14 happy chickens 🙂
alice says
We just bought some week-old baby chicks to give to our broody hen. Of course, when we moved the broody hen into the chicken tractor with the chicks, she seemed to snap out of her broodiness. She isn’t being terribly nurturing, but the chicks seem to be doing fine. We’ll see how it goes when they’re big enough to put all of them in the regular coop.
Mavis says
I’ve never tried adding week old chicks in with broody hens. I wonder why they are not super nurturing. Hmmm.
Jadyn says
It is always best to add day-old chicks in with brood chickens as opposed to week-old because they will grow a bigger bond.
Ashley says
I have 6 hens that are 7 (maybe 8, not sure how old they were when I got them from our local feed store) weeks old, and 2 that are about 3 weeks old. The older hens are a bit bigger, so I haven’t put them in together yet. I am dreading this. I have been setting their brooder next to the run each day, and a couple of the older hens are very curious. I plan to make a temporary run for the little gals for a couple of hours a day, for a few weeks — but I am super nervous! I don’t want any drama!! Perhaps the overnight placement would be best.
Also – we just introduced our 6 girls to their coop overnight a week ago, and they are still sleeping huddled up on the floor together. Perhaps this is for warmth? We are in NC, but it is getting down to the mid 50s sometimes at night — should I be concerned?
Lisa says
WE recently added 5 new girls to the 5 existing girls…The new ones were at the point of lay and were quite big. Was a bit over a week that we kept them apart, but in view of each other, but they had to bunk in together at night…. we just got up at sunrise to separate them.
They are together now, but have a large area to free range in so they can do their own thing in their own ‘groups’ as they like.
The old girls are quite mean and bossy, but the new girls learnt quick to grab scraps and run somewhere safe to eat them!
They are sorting it all out and I just try not to worry about their little soap operas!! 🙂
(Just wait until our newbies realise that they are a lot bigger than the older girls… hehehe)
Sara says
Where can I purchase a pet pen like you have in the pictures above?? This seems like the perfect solution to introduce our 4 new chickens to our existing flock! Thank you in advance! 🙂