Integrating 2 adult free range flocks together.

[LaurelC]

We built our mobile free range egg trailer last winter and got a bunch of chicks, brooded them in it, then started rotating them around our farm in the trailer. They get along pretty well and we have some extra space in the trailer, especially with the losses we've seen from hawks in the last couple of weeks and there's space in the trailer for more birds (we have somewhere in the high 30s as far as numbers go). I wholesale eggs to a woman who has a small flock of chickens who are also free ranged in a mobile coop. She has too much going on with other farm endeavors and is wanting to sell her flock to me and just buy eggs from us. If I end up doing that, I'll split her flock of ~30 birds and take half of them, the other half going to another friend who also wants more chickens. When adding ~15 adult chickens to an existing flock, with no simple way to keep them contained, what's the best way to accomplish this?

My thoughts are to get a used stationary coop and set it up adjacent to our garden area where the chickens will be spending a large portion of their winter, and make that the new flock's home, then slowly move our mobile coop closer to that area until the birds have had a chance to meet each other and sort out pecking order, at which time it should be relatively simple to transfer the new flock into the mobile coop at night once everyone's asleep. Is there a simpler way I can execute this? Since I don't have any containment, I'm hesitant to just toss everyone in together without first establishing our farm as home base in case the new birds decide they don't like what I'm offering plus the aggression from the established flock.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are any roosters involved?

Is the coop big enough for that many chickens?

I'd house the new chickens in a coop or coop/run of some type for about a week when you first bring them in. Teach them where home is and where to sleep. My preference would be that the "new" coop be in the general vicinity of the "old" so they get a look at each other for that week. Then just let them loose and see what happens.

If you want to quarantine the new ones first then set them up as far from the old ones first. Then move the closer together. I don't know how strongly you want them all in one coop or if you would be OK with them sleeping in two separate coops.

 

[LaurelC]

Are any roosters involved?

Is the coop big enough for that many chickens?

I'd house the new chickens in a coop or coop/run of some type for about a week when you first bring them in. Teach them where home is and where to sleep. My preference would be that the "new" coop be in the general vicinity of the "old" so they get a look at each other for that week. Then just let them loose and see what happens.

If you want to quarantine the new ones first then set them up as far from the old ones first. Then move the closer together. I don't know how strongly you want them all in one coop or if you would be OK with them sleeping in two separate coops.

Yes, we have 2 roosters and will be absorbing 1 or 2 additional roos.

I'm totally fine with them sleeping in separate coops, especially initially, as long as we're able to get some integration over the course of the winter. When the mobile coop goes "back on the road" around our farm following our rotationally grazed livestock, I would like for all of the chickens to be living inside, as that minimizes the chores, but I could handle a couple of different coops if it became necessary.

 

[Mrs. K]

Generally speaking, kind of sort of, chickens will follow chickens into the coup, if that coup is the best place to sleep and there is room.

A lot of people really swear by locking them up for several days, but really it has seldom been much of an issue for me. Once they have slept in a good spot, they tend to go back to that.

I would lock them into winter quarters - as long as you want, pull up your original birds, give everyone the choice of where to sleep, after you see birds mixing it up, then lock up the moveable coop, and check near dark to make sure everyone makes it in to winter quarters the first couple of nights.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your problem might be the roosters. They may fight to the death, some may get run out of the flocks, or they may work out an accommodation and actually get along. My expectation is that they will fight but I don't know what the outcome will be.

Since I don't have any containment, I'm hesitant to just toss everyone in together without first establishing our farm as home base in case the new birds decide they don't like what I'm offering plus the aggression from the established flock.

Exactly

I still suggest housing the new ones in a coop for a week so they learn where home is, then let them mingle and base your decisions on what you see. If they can free range together for a few weeks without serious fighting you can try locking them up together in the same coop overnight. Be down there the next morning at daybreak when they are waking und see how it goes.

They are both mature flocks, not juveniles that tend to follow adults in a lot of their behaviors. They may all try to sleep together in the same coop eventually or they may stay separated. If you keep all the roosters I'd expect them to maintain different flocks.

 

[LaurelC]

Your problem might be the roosters. They may fight to the death, some may get run out of the flocks, or they may work out an accommodation and actually get along. My expectation is that they will fight but I don't know what the outcome will be.


Exactly

I still suggest housing the new ones in a coop for a week so they learn where home is, then let them mingle and base your decisions on what you see. If they can free range together for a few weeks without serious fighting you can try locking them up together in the same coop overnight. Be down there the next morning at daybreak when they are waking und see how it goes.

They are both mature flocks, not juveniles that tend to follow adults in a lot of their behaviors. They may all try to sleep together in the same coop eventually or they may stay separated. If you keep all the roosters I'd expect them to maintain different flocks.

Thanks! How do people generally go about adding new roosters to an existing flock? Genuinely curious as we have recently lost a roo to a hawk attack and were already kind of on the low end of what I'd like to have.

I have the option to leave both roos with my friend, but that kind of screws up his hen:rooster ratio.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can try adding those, you never know what will actually happen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It helps to have a lot of room. Putting all of the roosters in one coop could be a breaking point.

How do people generally go about adding new roosters to an existing flock?

By adding them and seeing what happens. Sometimes it works.

I hatch and raise chicks with the flock. Sometimes growing up with the flock works well, sometimes there is a lot of fighting involved and it does not work. I can't give you any guarantees with any method.