Chicken bald back

[gavclojak]

I have never introduced new hens so my question is, out of the plans listed below, what has better chance of success and also, does it ever happen that they will never accept each other...I really don't want two separate warring factions!!

Plan A

Week 1 separate the run and block with plants so hens cant see each other

week 2 remove said plants so hens can see each other but are separated by netting

week 3 allow some supervised free range time together

week 4 as above

week 5 if all goes well remove the net and let them choose where they sleep

week 6 dependant on week 5 remove spare eglu and allow all in the cube

Plan B

throw them all in together and wait for Armageddon

Plan c

leave well alone and stick with my remaining three until they....shush....don't say it

[Chickabee]

It's a really difficult one. I've had success with just putting the new ones in with the old straight away. You just need lots of perches and different feeding stations. I have at the moment a run with my WIR, for my growers and their mum. That way they can all see each other. This worked really well for me once before, when I had a young silkie and a quail. The older girls didn't even seem to notice once I'd taken the extra run away. Good luck

[Grandmashazzie]

I'd go for plan A.That is roughly what I did when I got 3 POL to go with my 4 ex batts.I have to say it worked well, or I was just lucky.My new ones had new classic and now iris totally ignored as all are roosting outside except Miss Merryweather who has gone broody again There is odd chasing the newbies away from treats but no pecking or bullying although when out FR they are two definite flocks.

[jeshen]

Yes, agree with Grandmashazzle. Slow but steady seems to cause the least hassle in my experience. Plenty of eye-contact 'through the wire' seems to be good, maybe for a couple of weeks. Also I find throwing their afternoon corn to both groups as near to the divide as possible seems to help bonding a bit, as they're all rummaging together. Best of luck!

[paulad]

we went with plan a but a short version - over about 3 weeks. good luck