Integrating New Chickens into a Flock

Chickens form a dynamic flock that is run by their own set of rules and codes. Each bird has a place in the flock and knows its limits. When a flock’s dynamics are interrupted, havoc can break out! Knowing how to properly introduce new birds into your flock can prevent any major upsets in your established flock’s dynamics. Properly integrating chickens into a flock can also prevent bullying and potential injuries. Integrating new chickens into a flock should be done carefully and slowly. Hopefully the following basic principles will help you learn how to expand your flock without creating havoc!

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Importance of Integration

Chickens are intelligent creatures who create friendships and dislikes amongst their flock members. Every chicken flock has a pecking order in which one bird is head hen and other birds fall into order after the head hen.

Hens and roosters each have their own pecking 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. If there is a flock of roosters, they have their own pecking order with a head rooster being at the top of the order.

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). A disrupted flock will result in one or more of these things:

• bullying
• segregation
• injuries
• fighting

An established flock has an especially hard time accepting new members into the flock if they have never seen the new chickens previously. The established birds will start picking on the new birds. They will peck them, even to the point of injury or death.

The established flock will not let the new birds join their flock and will prevent access to food, water, roosts, and nesting boxes. Fights will break out between the old and new birds and serious injuries could occur. So, as you can see, knowing how to properly introduce new birds could save you a lot of time and heartache.

Why Integrate?

After 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. There are three main scenarios for introducing new birds to an established flock.

• you are raising more chicks to add to your current flock
• you bought some chickens that need to join your current flock
• a chicken has been removed from the flock for an extended period of time and is being put back with the flock

Chickens don’t live and produce forever. They get old, stop producing, die of diseases or illnesses, predators take their toll, or some die of unknown causes. When your flock starts to dwindle or egg production starts to decrease you may find yourself considering adding more birds to your 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.

For 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. Young birds will refer to chickens who have been raised as chicks and are ready to join the established flock. Old birds will refer to chickens who have been bought and need to join the established flock.

Integrating Policies

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. I have heard of many ways to integrate new birds into an established flock. There is the play pen method, the after-dark method, the free-range method and so on. The exact way you go about integrating new birds will depend partly on how you are set up. However, there are some ‘golden rules’ of integration.

• don’t just place new birds into an established flock
• avoid integrating only 1 or 2 birds, ideally integrate 5-6 birds at a time
• don’t ‘surprise’ your current flock by putting the new birds in the coop after dark
• observe both the new birds’ and the established flock’s behaviors
• don’t integrate sick or injured birds into an established flock
• allow ‘meet and greet’ time
• go slowly

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.

How to Integrate

Like I said earlier, the exact method you use for integration will depend on how you are set up. However, I would like to provide you with a fairly basic method that I use to integrate new birds into my flock. 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.

Set up a pen or enclosure that is near or inside of the current flock’s enclosure or coop. You can also have a pen outside for the new chickens to be in while the established flock is free-ranging.

Place the new birds in the separated enclosure. This allows some ‘meet and greet’ time between the two groups of chickens with a fence between them. The chickens can get used to the others’ presence. Some dominance behaviors may be displayed but the pen should prevent any injuries from occurring.

Step 2.

Keep the new birds separated in their pen/enclosure for at least a week. 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. This step may take longer than a week.

Observe all of the chickens’ behaviors to determine when the new birds are ready to join the established flock. Generally once both groups of birds are paying no attention to each other they are ready to be together.

Step 3. (optional)

This is an optional step that may be inserted if you want. Allow both the established flock and the new birds to free-range in a spacious area. Usually the new birds will stick together and stay away from the established flock, but there will probably be some interaction. There should be plenty of space for both groups to be away from each other if needed. Once free-ranging is over, return the new birds to their separated pen.

Step 4.

Open up the new birds’ pen and allow them to wander out on their own with the established flock. Make sure there is plenty of space for everyone. The new birds will probably stick close to their pen at first but then interact more as they feel comfortable.

There will be some minor conflicts as a new pecking order is established. Any continuing pecking or bullying should be addressed though. Make sure that everyone can get food and water. You may choose to do this step several times before allowing the new birds to join the established flock permanently.

In my experience both roosters and hens, pullets and cockerels, integrate similarly. I have not found one over the other to be harder or easier to integrate. I still wouldn’t recommend you try to integrate just one rooster or one cockerel into an established flock because hens can be bullies, even to roosters.

Integrating Young Birds

There are a few things I want to discuss about integrating young birds. Baby chicks should not be integrated into an older flock. Whether or not you keep a broody hen who has chicks with a flock or separate is up to you and how you manage your flock. However, baby chicks that you raise should not be integrated into an older flock as the older flock members could kill the chicks.

Young birds can be integrated into an older flock once they reach near the same size as the older chickens. They should be fully feathered and able to eat the same food as the older birds. Use the same steps mentioned above for integrating young birds who are near the same size as the older birds.

Just as a side note, it is fairly easy to integrate very young chicks with other very young chicks. Usually if there is no more than 1 or 2 weeks age difference in very young chicks you should be okay with combining the two ages. You should still monitor and observe their behaviors though.

Integrating Old Birds

Before you go about integrating older birds to an established flock there are a few things you want to consider. First, older birds tend to carry more of a disease risk. Whenever you buy grown birds you run the risk of introducing parasites or disease to your current flock.

The best solution to this problem is quarantining the new birds completely away from the current flock with no way of contact. This way you can monitor the behavior and health of the new birds. Tend to your current flock first before tending to the new birds to reduce the risk of carrying disease pathogens to your current flock .

Allow at least 3 weeks for quarantine time. Usually you will be able to notice any signs of disease or illnesses within those three weeks. Also check the new birds over carefully for any parasites. If you do find parasites or see signs of an illness, treat the bird(s) immediately and wait until all the symptoms are gone before integrating. Follow the steps mentioned above for integrating older birds into an established flock.

After Integration

Integrating new members into an established flock can be stressful for both sides. Try to minimize other stress factors during the integration process. Don’t suddenly change the arrangement of items in the coop or switch feeds. Offering probiotics during stressful times can help keep a chicken’s digestive  and immune systems healthy. Take it slow and allow the chickens to work at their own pace.

Also realize that adding more chickens to your flock might mean you need more space. You will need to make sure you have enough coop space and enclosure space to accommodate all the birds. Make sure that everyone can get food and water, and that there are enough nesting boxes and plenty of roosting space.

New flock members might need to be cooped trained (taught to go into the coop to roost at night) or taught where the nesting boxes are located. Encourage them to lay in the nesting boxes by placing fake eggs or golf balls in the nesting boxes. Monitor your flock and make sure everyone is comfortable and getting along fine!

A Peaceful Flock…

Learning how to integrate new chickens into an established flock is an important chicken raising skill to learn! Chickens don’t like it when things change, and they seem to be especially hostile to new faces suddenly showing up in their living space. Integrating can be simple and easy when it is done correctly. Now you can have the pleasure of expanding your flock without worrying about it causing havoc! Soon your ‘new’ flock will be back to normal and everyone should be happy and get along well!

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by Alexa