Introducing new girls to old crew?

[dw]

I don't want these new babies in the house until they're big...but not sure when to let them in with older ones. The older crew is Rooster & 3 hens. And we have 6 new babies.

Any suggestions welcome.

[dustawaits]

All depends. Older stock can kill the little ones... they also might mother them.

[countrymom22]

How little are the little ones? They should be completely feathered out before moving them outside. Mine are 5 weeks old and going outside tomorrow. We are dividing the coop with wire fencing so the new and old birds can see each other but the littles are still protected from the older hens for another 4-5 weeks.

I've never had a problem mixing the new ones in as long as I wasn't mixing bantams with standard breeds. And I always try to make sure that the new birds out number the older birds as that way the new ones are less likely to be picked on. It's harder for the old birds to focus all their attention on just one bird this way. When I do this the older birds usually just stay to themselves and it takes a few months for the entire flock to be integrated and act as one flock.

I've never had a problem with a rooster accepting the new birds. They usually just focused on the original flock and ignored the newbies. Occasionally a rooster would appear distressed because all the chickens wouldn't stay in a group, but that went away after a few days.

Good luck!

[Mari-in-IN]

I pretty much do the same thing as countrymom22 described.  Have the two groups separated by chicken wire if feasible.  I didn't mix the two groups until they were pretty much the same size.  Even though they had seen each other all of those weeks there was always a day or two after removing the fence that they would "fight" just a tad.  I'm sure it had to do with establishing the new peck order.  Nothing serious happened though...  
Good luck!
~Mari

[countrymom22]

Well one of my new girls took it upon herself to get out and mingle with the older hens. Some ignored her, but one older hen was very concerned when it was getting dark out and the little one wasn't inside. So she walked in and out of the coop a few times, coming back to the little one and cooing quietly to her. Then the little one just walked right up the ramp with the older hen following her, just like she had been doing so for months!

So I'm glad to report no drama here!

[dw]

I think I have the plan...our babies are doing well in their box.