Replacing hens
by Heath Teutsch
Replacing hens: I have chance to buy 2 month old hens of the same breed I already have. Are they old enough to put in with the older chickens and a rooster? Answer Probably not. I make it a rule not to mix ages of chickens, unless the young are being introduced with a hen originally from the flock or until full size. It's natural for a hen to go off by herself, where space allows, to incubate a clutch of eggs, and return to the main flock with her brood and be accepted. But new young chickens introduced to a flock of adults, without a mother hen, may be seen as intruders. Due to being smaller, younger, weaker and inexperienced in living with this flock, they will be bullied to establish pecking order or possibly to drive them away. In a closed environment bullying can lead to the injury, stressing and death of young chickens. At this point in their lives they should be putting all energies into growing and maturing, not running and hiding, trying to get enough food, defending themselves, growing replacement feathers that have been plucked out, and healing. Another issue here is quarantine. It's always a good idea to keep new flock members separately and away from the existing flock for a few weeks, to make sure you don't introduce disease/parasites to your main flock and housing. I like to wait until pullets are near adult size, and can easily handle being bred by an adult rooster, as the guideline, before introducing them to a mature flock in a large area. |