Does anyone have tips for integrating new birds into the flock?

[Gertrude LaBirdy]

We have a pullet named Cheese- yes, we named our bird Cheese. We had to find homes for the rest of our five-bird hatch, and we need to integrate Cheese with our current 2-bird flock, Wendy and Gertrude. Does anyone have any advice for how to do this?

 

[feathermaid]

How old are each of your 3 birds and what breeds? Any info on where you've been raising/keeping them?
A good way to integrate is the See But Don’t Touch method. But there may be some tweaks depending on other factors.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC.
We are glad you joined this flock!
Jump right in and make yourself at home.
Also, in addition to the ages...How big is your coop?
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[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to our FUNomenal community!
The see but don’t touch method works the best.

 

[CoopintheWoods]

When I had to integrate an EE hen into my flock of 10 or so, I put her in a dog crate inside their coop for about a month, with short, supervised direct contact between them. Before this, she had been in an outside pen during the day next to theirs, but in her own coop at night. In the winter, she moved into their coop in the dog crate.

Maybe a more relevant example is when I introduced a hen I have with a permanent, severe limp to an orpington hen who had been rejected by the flock. For about two months, they were in the garage in separate dog crates next to one another. As the weather got warmer, they would be supervised outside together. This introduction was very easy, however, because the hens did not do muck peck-order fighting, because the hen who can't really walk surrendered quickly.

If you do do anything that involved a hen behind the bars of a cage, I would highly recommend an extra wire barrier, about 2 inches from the bars of the cage. This is to prevent one bird from pulling another's head through the bars of the cage, where they will become stuck (due to their neck feathers) and be attacked by the one who pulled them through. I learned this when my lame hen decided to stop tolerating the rooster on the other side of the fence (he was fine once he worked himself free, just a bit ruffled.)

The orpington hen passed away last summer, and I am currently using the same process to introduce two pullets to my limping hen. Using an extra barrier of chain-ling, my hen had not tried to pull them out of their cage yet. When I let them out together, they rarely scuffle.

Good luck with your flock!

 

[Brahmachicken240]

Welcome to BYC

 

[Melky]

Welcome to BYC!​

 

[Gertrude LaBirdy]

We’ve tried see but don’t touch, yet it hasn’t been working. The two bigger ones just turned one, and our pullet is 5mths today.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Good luck with the integration. The number one rule for a successful integration it's lots of space. Number two is lots of time.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

How do you know it's not working? I would try putting her on the roost late at night and get out there by sunrise in the morning, and if its not working take her out and keep trying.
Oh and WELCOME!