flock additions

We have recently moved and are rebuilding our flock from scratch. Our plan is to have two flocks of chickens, each with a male and female goose for protection. We also want a separate flock of just geese. We've ordered: 5 female goslings, 2 male goslings, and 3 unsexed goslings, plus all of our...

I have a flock of 12 hens and 2 roosters. They are all roughly 8 months old. One of the roosters is clearly dominant. The other spends his day on the outskirts of the flock or with the occasional hen if they can find privacy. The only time he seems to have much company is in the evening when 3-4...

My first post outside of the goose forum! So this week we will be taking on some new birds, we are getting one adult brahma male and 2 younger males plus 4 young Muscovy ducks. We have only ever handled geese before so this will be very new to us! Any advice is incredibly welcome. We don’t...

Recently had a fox attack that killed 2/3 of our hens - we've had one in years past but it didn't leave any survivors so am unsure how to care for this poor lonely traumatised hen. We do however want to get back to our usual egg rates as soon as is possible without stressing her out, and last...

Hello, second ever post here. I’ve got three chickens, and they’re about 9 weeks old. After realizing I had a cockerel, I wanted to make sure neither of my other ones were as well. Now comes the issue of swapping him (he seems to be the top of the pecking order, considering my hens follow him...

I currently own 1 Rooster (Breed N/A), & 1 Hen (Black Japanese Bantam) They are around 3-4 Months old. Me and my family are looking into introducing and adding more hens to the little group! Currently, we are only able to add 5 new hens. Now here are my questions, How should I introduce them...

I have 5 ducks. 4 welsh harlequins (one is male) and 1 silver appleyard. They’re 2 years old. I want to get two female goslings and introduce them to the ducks once they’re big enough but not too big. I also have a polish chicken who stays with the ducks, which might also be a problem. I keep my...

I was thinking of getting at least one Silver Laced Polish to go in my new flock but was wondering if it was safe since they’re so skittish? The new flock so far has a Welsummer, a Dominicker, a Rhode Island Red, and an Easter Egger. I don’t want to get a Polish and have it be tortured by the...

A dog came into my property, broke into the chicken coop and killed 4 out of 5 of my hens ( 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Cream Leg Bars). Our Buff Brahma survived. She was the bottom chicken in the pecking order and does not have an independent personality. She hasn’t left the coop yet after the attack 2...

I have a pair of cockerels about 12 weeks old. They are mixed with easter eggers, australorps and black marans…but they look more like black marans...very attractive. They have been handled regularly. They get along well and have been together since birth. They are even a bit comical...

Hello! I’m trying to get a good sense of what breeds of chicken might work out best for our situation. We actually got chickens for pest control with our horses. The egg laying has just been a good bonus. Right now we have 11 chickens (started out with 15) two of which are roosters. Current...

My husband and I have a 4 hens and 1 rooster. I’m brand new to this, he had some when he was growing up. Just like our 4 dogs I’m getting the majority of the responsibility as he finds a new project or “toy” 😊 We purchased our flock from Tractor Supply about 7 months ago and the state we are in...

Hi! I recently rescued a chicken from a coworker who was attacked by her flock. She had a horrible wound on the back of her head but pulled through and is healed up now. I wanted to try to slowly reintroduce her to the flock but my coworker doesn't want her back. She is the sweetest thing, she...

I am on year two of raising chickens, so this is my first year integrating flocks. I've been educating myself on introducing pullets to adults, but I have a question since I have different aged chicks/pullets currently housed separately. I have two batches of chicks that I hatched one month...

So this is the next step in my journey of questions, a continuation of: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sex-of-two-pekin-ducks.1528865/ We have guessed so far that this is most likely one male/1 female, but as they are probably between 5 and 6 weeks old, nothing has been concluded...

We have 12 silkies that are 7/8 weeks old. We have older hens in a different coop that give us almost enough eggs for our consumption. The silkies were for egg supplementation but also because they are my favorites. We are not sure what roosters to hens ratio is and are looking to supplement...

Hi! I currently have a flock of 11 hens and 1 roo. We’re adding more chicks this spring (15 pullets, 1roo in April and also 5 or 6 pullet chicks in may). I plan to try and integrate those 2 groups together into 1 big flock pretty quickly. The 2 “coops” (actually barn stalls) are separate but...

I’m in a little predicament after one of my grown hens unexpectedly died. I’m now left with my one grown hen so she is all alone. I have 3 (2month old) chicks living in a different enclosure and am wondering how I can move them all into one enclosure. My worry is that my one adult hen will peck...

Hi I have a Old English Game Rooster Bantam in a pen with several Hens and I have another Old English Game Bantam In a separate pen by himself, How do I introduce that lonely Rooster to the flock?

I recently chatted with an experienced chicken owner over Thanksgiving leftovers and described the troubles I had been having with one of my Rhodies being a real bully bird to the younger (but fully grown) hens when I integrated the flocks. Earlier in the spring when allowed to forage among 21...