4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Avangalene]

Just wondering what the best way is to add a new chicken to my three girls i have now ,there approx a year old and are ISA brown x warrens .

 

I have just got a 6 week old Cream legbar and allthough i know she needs to get bigger before i put them together, i was wondering if there is a good way to do this ?

 

Thankyou all for all ideas !

[moochoo]

There's some great info in the FAQ's section

http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25886

[BeckyBoo]

Hi there, yes have a look at the link, but goodness me, I think you're in for a bit of a time of it, a 6 weeks old versus three, year olds Is there no way you could get the 6 weeks old a similar aged friend so she can have some company whilst she's getting older? You're looking at about 10 weeks before you can put them together I would have thought - your existing 3 will be a nice little flock all on their own and will strongly resist any intruders. She'll need to be a similar size before you can put her to the others and that will mean a long time on her own, even if you put her where she can see them.

I might be wrong, I'm no expert although I've done a few introductions and it takes a lot of time. Good luck, keep us updated how you get on!

 

Mrs B

[beach chick]

wot Mrs B says really. I've just successfully integrated 4 x 14 week olds and 2 POLs with my 2 x 18mth old girls, but I guess it took a period of 5-6 weeks, and they are in quite a big space. the info on here is really useful so I would be guided by it. good luck!

[Egluntyne]

Mrs B is right....your cream legbar will be very lonely whilst waitng to get big enough, and she will be seriously outnumbered when you do integrate her.

 

I'd get her a couple of pals asap and then there will be safety in numbers when you merge them.

[NClaire]

I totally agree that if you can get at least a couple more similar aged hens that would be advisable.

 

I'm currently mixing 2 POL hens with 1 year old Goldline. A supplier advised me to only get 1 - that would have been a disaster - the two new girls are very nervous of the 1 year old - I am a week in, and I still can't mix them unsupervised. They have been sleeping together, but this has been difficult the last few days. Dh is currently dividing the run into 2 so that at least they can share the run, although separated by garden canes, but I think it will still be a few weeks before they are happy together.

 

Lots of places won't sell 1 hen on her own, because of welfare issues associated with introducing 1 hen to an established flock.

[Avangalene]

Will think about getting more .