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Steph101

Introducing new girls - advice needed

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We are picking up three POL black rocks this evening to join our two gingernuts. Our gingers are now around 25-26 weeks old; the black rocks will be 16-18 weeks.

I know it's best done in the dark, but do you think I should have them sleeping seperately at night for a week, as well as keeping them apart during the day, due to the age difference? I'm really keen to get things right this time (had a few nightmares with chicken bullying in the past). :(

Has anyone got any good tips for me? :roll::?:

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For things to work really well, it's best to keep them completely separate but within sight of each other for around a week. If they have separate accommodation to sleep in, that's wonderful but if you haven't got that, pop them into the Eglu at night when the original hens are asleep by putting them gently in through the eggport. After a week, you can try putting them all together during the day but make sure that you have lots of feeders dotted about to stop them getting into fights over food. If they can free range, this really does help as they're so interested in what's around them rather than pecking each other but if you can't do this and they have to go together in the run, as long as they're not injuring the new hens or they aren't getting distressed, they should be fine. There WILL be some pecking. You can guarantee that they will not be friends from day one but things will slowly improve and after a week or two, things should be much calmer.

 

The age difference isn't going to be a problem as the old girls aren't that much bigger than the new ones if they are at POL so keep them apart if you can for a week then see how things go. If they have to sleep in the same Eglu, open the door early in the morning to let the new girls be separated again so there's no bullying while they're shut up inside.

 

Also you're introducing 3 new ones to 2 established ones so pecking shouldn't be extreme as there's definitely safety in numbers.

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That's what I thought. I made the fatal mistake of introducing one to three a while back, and it was horrible, even with doing everything by the book.

I'd intended to keep them in seperate runs anyway, and they can sleep apart comfortably if need be, so that's not a problem, but it's the time of day that I let the established girls see the newbies that I was most concerned with. Shall I plonk them straight in the garden when they arrive tonight, or let them see them for the first time in the morning? :!:

The NOISE when the new girls see new chickens is incredible :shock: - I'm starting to worry about getting complaints from the neighbours!!!

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I can't see that it will make any difference as the older hens will make a racket regardless of when they first meet the new girls - mine always do but it will calm down over the next couple of days and if your neighbours complain, just tell them that it's only a temporary noise as the hens get used to each other. I took some eggs round to my neighbours and explained and they were all absolutely fine about it. Within a couple of days, they'd calmed down and all was well.

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Just thought id say my opinion on this........

I found out all the 'tricks' to introducing new birds to established ones AFTER i had put my 2 new ones in with the others!!!!

Lots of advice states that they will NOT get on and should be kept in seperate runs but ours were fine after a couple of hours of chasing etc.

Our new hens were the ones chasing the other 3 ( two being cockerels)

After they'd spent a night together they were fine and a week and a half on its like they've been together forever.

 

Was i just lucky?

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I can't see that it will make any difference as the older hens will make a racket regardless of when they first meet the new girls - mine always do but it will calm down over the next couple of days and if your neighbours complain, just tell them that it's only a temporary noise as the hens get used to each other. I took some eggs round to my neighbours and explained and they were all absolutely fine about it. Within a couple of days, they'd calmed down and all was well.

 

Thanks Kate, I'll heed your advice. :)

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I picked up 2 ex-bats on Sunday and was really concerned about introducing them to my 2 older ex-bats. As soon as I got them home I put them straight in the garden together. Ok so there was a bit of sorting out in the first five minutes, just pecking though, but after that they were fine. They spent the first night together with no problems and, even though there is still a minor bit of pecking every so often, all is well. I think I must just be lucky too!

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