![]() ![]() If the two flocks are not the same size, the larger chickens are likely to bully the smaller one’s and there is likely to be more bloodshed. Wait until the chicks are 16 weeks or the same size as your other flock before combining them. We don’t have chickens or roosters anymore because to me the experience was terrible. It is always best to combine the two flocks when they are the same size. In my opinion, then, one rooster is all one should have if you want any kind of peaceful community of chickens. The bald tracks left on the poor chickens backs after roosters continually either attacked them or mated with them was abhorrent to see. When those outliers tried to go for the feed, they were attacked mercilessly. The roosters would create a pecking order (raising chickens must be the origin of the meaning) so that there only some roosters and their harem of chickens able to eat the feed, and the other chickens and roosters were left out. The roosters would perch on the trusses of the barn and would swoop down with talons onto our heads when we went to fetch the eggs. This prevents one new chicken from being singled out and picked on by the entire older flock. Many of the roosters and chickens made their way out of that area into the back yard and especially in the grass where they were able to find all kinds of bugs to eat. Mean tonic immobility durations (sSE) for hens in both flocks (combined). Hay bails insulated this barn in the winter, and the chickens were able to leave the barn and peck around in a large fenced area where the horse used to trot. Two commercial free-range flocks on one farm in South-Eastern Australia were. Keep any adult birds in quarantine before combining them with your flock. We have an old barn with very sizeable areas that had been used to house a horse, a pony, and a goat, and in part of that same barn is a 12-sectioned coop area for the hens to lay eggs. Chickens need two to three pounds of water for every pound of feed consumed. Half of this brood turned out to be roosters and half hens, and, he, thinking of them as a group of brothers and sisters, kept them all. But, I want them to get most of their nutrition from the 3 acres they free range each day.My husband purchased a deal (suggested by his friend) of little chicks–about 14 of them–without knowing which would be hens and which would be roosters. The only change I would make to this process was to install a second feeder in the run which I will do this weekend. With each day, the flock is getting more and more socially integrated. It isnt impossible but when chickens have an. They still feel secure being within a few second scramble back to the run. Integrating chicken into a flock can be very difficult and is usually stressful for both you and your hens. They now venture out of the run to free range on their own now like the adult birds do, but they don't go nearly as far. A week of this and the chicks started to get used to the adult birds and got a bit more brave each day. I went out the next morning and the chicks kept themselves segregated from the adult birds and would run away whenever an adult bird headed their way. I carried each chick by hand into the run/coop and wetted their beak on the nipple waterers because they were drinking from a different kind of waterer in the brooder and nursery. So, I integrated them at night when the adult birds were sleeping and roosted. The big girls can't get close enough to the chicks to peck them to harm. My new Eastereggers are far quicker and faster than my adult birds. Introducing new chickens to your flock Ideally, you would wait until your new chicks are about the same size as the older hens before combining them so. However, it wasn't size that was the determining factor for me, it was speed. I've read that we should wait until the chicks are of similar size as the adult birds so they can defend themselves. This can mean that the flock remains in the run with a small, separate playpen near or in the run for the newbies. The Playpen Method entails creating a confinement system (playpen) for the newbies in the vicinity of the flock. I kept the chicks in the nursery for three weeks where both flocks could see each other. Integrating new flock members should be done slowly in order to minimize the stress on everyone. Not only are these two different flocks, but different breeds that have different behavior characteristics. Once my chicks (17 Eastereggers) had their back feathers, I removed them from the brooder and built a wire pen (nursery) with one of the sides was a common side to the run/coop where the adult birds were (22 adult Orpingtons and Plymouth Rocks). ![]() Allowing two flocks to get to know each other through a. ![]() I recently integrated my flocks and have not had any problems yet. Combining two groups of chickens can start an all-out war until one side establishes dominance. ![]()
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