![]() Observe all of the chickens’ behaviors to determine when the new birds are ready to join the established flock. This may mean juggling the new birds back and forth between the pen and a safe roosting area unless they have a coop attached to their pen. ![]() Keep the new birds separated in their pen/enclosure for at least a week. Some dominance behaviors may be displayed but the pen should prevent any injuries from occurring. ![]() The chickens can get used to the others’ presence. This allows some ‘meet and greet’ time between the two groups of chickens with a fence between them. Place the new birds in the separated enclosure. You can also have a pen outside for the new chickens to be in while the established flock is free-ranging. Set up a pen or enclosure that is near or inside of the current flock’s enclosure or coop. I have been integrating new birds into my established flock almost every year and I only had a problem once… the first time I did it! Let’s just say that I learned from my mistake pretty quickly! Step 1. However, I would like to provide you with a fairly basic method that I use to integrate new birds into my flock. Like I said earlier, the exact method you use for integration will depend on how you are set up. If you keep these guidelines in mind when you are determining the best way to integrate your new birds you should end up with a fairly successful integration. don’t integrate sick or injured birds into an established flock.observe both the new birds’ and the established flock’s behaviors.don’t ‘surprise’ your current flock by putting the new birds in the coop after dark.avoid integrating only 1 or 2 birds, ideally integrate 5-6 birds at a time.don’t just place new birds into an established flock.However, there are some ‘golden rules’ of integration. The exact way you go about integrating new birds will depend partly on how you are set up. There is the play pen method, the after-dark method, the free-range method and so on. I have heard of many ways to integrate new birds into an established flock. Integrating young or old birds differs slightly but for the most part integration is a fairly basic method of introducing new birds into an established flock. Old birds will refer to chickens who have been bought and need to join the established flock. Young birds will refer to chickens who have been raised as chicks and are ready to join the established flock. Also, chicken math is real! You start out with 5 or 6 hens and eventually end up with 20! Whether you raise more chicks or buy full grown birds, they are going to have to join the current flock eventually.įor the purpose of explaining, I am going to use young and old birds to refer to the different ages of the birds you might be integrating. When your flock starts to dwindle or egg production starts to decrease you may find yourself considering adding more birds to your flock. They get old, stop producing, die of diseases or illnesses, predators take their toll, or some die of unknown causes. a chicken has been removed from the flock for an extended period of time and is being put back with the flockĬhickens don’t live and produce forever.you bought some chickens that need to join your current flock.you are raising more chicks to add to your current flock.There are three main scenarios for introducing new birds to an established flock. So, as you can see, knowing how to properly introduce new birds could save you a lot of time and heartache.Īfter hearing about all the issues new birds can cause in an established flock, you may be wondering why you would want to integrate chickens into an established flock in the first place. Fights will break out between the old and new birds and serious injuries could occur. The established flock will not let the new birds join their flock and will prevent access to food, water, roosts, and nesting boxes. They will peck them, even to the point of injury or death. ![]() The established birds will start picking on the new birds. A disrupted flock will result in one or more of these things:Īn established flock has an especially hard time accepting new members into the flock if they have never seen the new chickens previously. The pecking order gets disrupted when new birds are introduced (it can also be disrupted when birds die or are taken out of the flock). If there is a flock of roosters, they have their own pecking order with a head rooster being at the top of the order. Amongst a flock of hens there is a pecking order and if there is a rooster, he is separate from the hens’ pecking order. Hens and roosters each have their own pecking order. ![]() Every chicken flock has a pecking order in which one bird is head hen and other birds fall into order after the head hen. Importance of IntegrationĬhickens are intelligent creatures who create friendships and dislikes amongst their flock members. ![]()
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