Unsecure chicken perches

[skwump]

I had a quick question about introductions...

 

I have had 3 hybrids for a few months, and last night, I got 2 silkies and 1 poland. In one weeks time i'm going to get the remaining 4 girls (leghorn, faverello, acaucana and maran). The question is, do I need to keep all three batches of girls separate, or can I mixed the 2 new batches and just keep those separate from the hybrids?

 

thank you!

 

_____________________

batch 1: (hybrids)

batch 2: (silkies and polands)

batch 3: (one week after batch two) (leghorn, faverello, acaucana and maran)

[Plum]

If it was me I'd keep them seperate for a couple of weeks to check there is no disease and then introduce them gradually over a period of time.

 

Take care with the silkies and poland though. The books say they are placid and can be bullied so you may end up having to house them seperately. There are some forum members with mixed flock of silkies poland hybrid and purebreed. Guess you have to play it by ear but I would take loads of time over it.

 

and post pictures! Good luck

[Duncan08]

I would worry about the silkies and the Poland mixing with the Hybrids long term. Polands are particularly vunerable as they can't see very well with their top knots.

 

For quarantine purposes it is recommended to isolate new birds for 2 weeks, so I would think really you need to keep all three sets separate.

 

I have just ordered some Pekins and am going to get another coop/ run just for them as I don't trust my big girls to play nicely. They are going to be sited completely separately for the first 3/4 months as they will only be 8 weeks. Then I will move their covered coop/run to the big girls outdoor run, so they can see, chat with the others, am thinking that I may try mixing them next spring

 

Hate intros, just wish they would all play nicely.

[coco]

Personally I wouldn't mix silkies with hybrids, I have two minature silkies and they are both so dippy they wouldn't have a clue about defending themselves. I have a mix of large fowl purebreds, pekins, silkie crosses and poland crosses that all get on really well but I think I've just been lucky. My silkies live with other small bantams in a seperate house and run.

[mollyripkim]

I would go careful with the silkies and pekin too, I think their hairdo can make them a target for the bigger girls and their skulls are delicate but you may be lucky.

[Happily]

I also would be very careful with the silkies and Poland. Currently we have two silkies and one Poland like chicken (she was a rescue chicken so not sure what breed she is but has a big pom pom) and they are housed separately from the Pekins. They have been housed in runs next to each other since autumn last year and started looking like we might be able to integrate them. However the Pekins are quite vicious and pick on my Poland a lot so I don't think we will ever be able to integrate. the Poland and the silkies do not fight back and are very docile and the Pekins just single them out and gang up on them. Good luck x

[skwump]

Thank you everyone for the advise. I'll be extra careful with the sillies and poland!