How do you you introduce 2 chickens to another chicken?

Answer 1

When introducing new chickens to a flock there are a couple of considerations that one must make. These are age, size, and sex.

Never introduce a chicken to your flock that shows any signs of parasites or diseases.

If the chickens being introduced are younger than the flock, say juvenile chickens to a mature flock, then the younger chickens will certainly be pecked at and placed at the bottom of the pecking order. If the chickens being introduced are older than your flock, then there should be little problems depending upon the age difference. Never introduce baby chicks to a flock of older chickens. Chicks should be introduced only once they are fully feathered and about half grown.

Size is a great consideration. Bantams and large fowl should be kept in separate coups unless the health of the bantams is greatly monitored. due to the fact that bantams are roughly one fourth the size of large fowl chickens the bantams often can't fight for food as well and can become thin and sickly. As a general rule of thumb, if the chickens being introduced are less than half the size of the chickens in the flock the introduction should be monitored closely. If the birds are bantams, then they will always be smaller than large fowl chickens. If the chickens are simply young large fowl chickens, then they with grow and eventually be about the same size as the other large fowl chickens.

Certain breeds of chickens will tend to be smaller than others. For instance, Production Leghorns will be about three quarters the size of a Rhodeisland Red.

Sex is an important consideration to make. Hens are generally more accepted than Roosters when it comes to a new member. New hens will generally be pecked at and perhaps attacked by other hens and courted by the roosters. New roosters will often pick fights with the other roosters in the flock. These fights may either be mild or very bloody. Keep in mind that roosters will rarely fight to the death and that cock fighters attach knives to the spurs of their roosters in order to kill the other chicken. The worst that usually happens is that there is a bit of blood. You should never be alarmed by a cockfight unless it lasts for longer than five or ten minutes.

When you introduce the new birds simply carry them into the coup. Set them down on the floor of the coup amongst the other chickens and remain in the coup with them. Watch the other chickens closely. Don't worry if there is a little bit of pecking. If the pecking and fighting escalates beyond that to loss of feathers and if the others pin the new chicken in the corner then remove the new chicken and leave the coup.

If the new chickens continue to be pecked at or to fight, then you may need to bring a squirt bottle in with you. Often times a squirt in the face with convey the message.

Sometimes the new chickens may need to be placed in the coup inside another cage or containment. This should have small enough holes that the chickens can't be pecked or injured through the wire. A dog kennel often works well for this. Leave the cage and chicken inside the coup until the others show no interest in them.

Introducing new chickens at night can often be helpful. When the other chickens wake up they will find a new member, but may pay no mind or assume the chicken was always there. This works well with the cage idea.

Answer 2

I don't know if this works for all chickens, but we had three chicks that were being raised in the house and two grown ones outside in a pen. When the chicks were about six weeks old, I put them in the pen with the big chickens for increasingly longer times for about a week. I started out with about an hour and worked up to all day and brought them in at night. When they seemed to be use to that, I introduced them to the roost one night after the older chickens had been in it for a couple of hours already. The older chickens seemed a little perterbed, but the night went fine with all of them in the roost together. I occasionally still have to put the chicks in the roost at night because they like to find other places to sleep but we have a lot of predators around here and they have to be locked in a coop/roost at night.

Because the older chickens tend to chase the chicks away from the food, I make sure I have more than one area where the chicks can eat that is away from the big chickens. I have been doing this for about 2-3 weeks and now they seem to get along fine. Although the chicks do give the two big hens the right of way and the hens will sometimes boss them around. But thankfully there's no pecking going on.

Someone told me that when introducing chicks, that the chicks should always outnumber the older chickens. Introducing the hens one at a time to the chicks is a good idea. And BEWARE of roosters if you have them. Even tame roosters can me very mean to chicks. We once learned that the hard way.

If your chickens are all grown, it might be easier but I would still do it gradually.

Hope that helps.