Are you adding new chickens to your flock? Listen in as Nutrena Poultry Specialist Twain Lockhart gives helpful tips for integrating new birds into your flock.
Leave a comment if you have one, or feel free to ask questions below!
3 Replies to “Integrating New Birds into the Flock”
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After starting with a small flock last year, I am expanding by quite a bit this year. I have 5 adult hens and 22 chicks. My question, since my chicks vary in ages and the oldest ones are almost fully feathered and will be ready to go outside soon, is would it be better to introduce the new chicks in two separate groups? Should the oldest chicks go out when they are ready and follow that with the younger chicks in a few more weeks when they are ready? Or is it better to introduce all the chicks at once? Which will be less stressful to my adult hens and result in the least amount of chaos and fighting?
Doing the intros in two separate groups would probably be the best way to go. Just make sure that you do a full introduction period for each group.
Thanks for the question!
Hi Pat,
You are moving in the right direction. Likely she will need time to recover from the shock of losing her roo. In the meantime, use the methods described in this article to help integrate her with your other birds.
Hope this helps, and good luck!