Introducing new chickens, whether young or old, is always a nail biter. The established flock want to make sure their dominance is known and, so, peck and chase the new additions like vicious meany-heads.
This is considered normal and expected.
BUT
There are steps that can be taken to make the transition less stressful on you and your flock, as well as some steps that should be avoided all together, if possible.
First, I’ll start with the number one step that should be avoided: Do not, especially if only adding one or two chickens to a large flock, just drop them into the pen all at once and hope for the best. I’ve witnessed too many heartbroken, backyard farmers who couldn’t come to grips with the fact that their precious hens pecked the newbie to death.
I know there are people who say they’ve done that and it works out just fine. Good for them, but they are the exception.
For the least stressful transition, follow these steps:
- If introducing chicks (like ones you’ve purchased from the store or hatchery), wait until they are fully feathered. Around 10 weeks, at the youngest.
- Make an enclosed area for the new chicks to stay in that is inside the current flocks’ area.
- Keep the two groups separate for a minimum of one week (a minimum of two is better) to get accustomed to one another.
We used a mobile chicken tractor that we could move daily, or every other day. This gives the young chickens a chance to get used to being on a pasture setting after being in the brooder as well as giving our main flock a chance to get used to the new birds.
One of the girls checking out the newbies.
The above two pictures show the flock once we lifted one corner of the chicken tractor and the newbies had the opportunity to get out and officially meet the flock. There will always be some pecking and dominance checking, but it is a much more toned down version.
Now, we wait for them to lay some eggs!