"But there will always be a few people who have the courage to love what is untamed inside us": October 2014

This is one subject that it seems everybody has an opinion on so I thought I would share mine.

This last year I've added and lost so many hens to my flock due to attacks and just learning about breeds and chicken keeping my girls may just think change is part of the normal around my place.

Background about my coop: i dont do chicks or hatching eggs (not set up for it). My coop is basically an 8 x 10 dog kennel whichbacks up to my shed on one side and has another tin siding and roof as well. I've had anywhere from 3 to 8 hens at a time. Hens only no rooster!!! The only rule I really have is to add hen of the same size, Which never had an issue with since I only do adult chickens

STEP 1: Quarantine

As soon as I walk onto my property with a new hen I promptly seven dust it which is what I use for lice and mites and in both the new Hen(s) and old Hens water I add electrolytes and probiotics packets. I then set up a dog crate with inside my coop.

....I do believe quarartine is important but I kinda bypass this step most of the time. I'm never had a hen starts to show signs of illness or be sick. Like most homeowners that just have backyard chickens for eggs, i'm just not setup for it. (not to mention I come from the philosophy of ripping the Band-Aid off.) I also think if you buy smart ie: Buy local, look at the bird make sure it has Clear Eyes, no running nostril, overall good colors and liveliness, good enough condition to add, i assume healthy until proven wrong.. i call out an old dog crate and set it up within the coop. I keep the new hens in the dog crate for anywhere between a day to a week(never really has it lasted a week in my yard) I basically watch over all the hens to make sure that there's no major signs of sickness or too much stress on any. During this time usually every hen is curious but happy. During this time i let my original hens free range and come and go from the coop as normal. if I see signs of aggression/stress/lack of eating or anything concerning, I will move the dog crate out of the coop and put it under my deck to totally separate new and old. this is a good time to say that at any point if the progress is not going well with mixing the new and old chickens then go back a step or two to what feels comfortable.

Step 2: once step one is the successfull continue with the Peace.

With the dog crate set up & the new hens still in it, i leave them be (well besides food and water and some hellos.) My orginal hens get let out to roam the yard like normal.

Step 3: meeting between the fence day

normally on day three (sometimes sooner depend on both flocks behavior, if every chick still seems happy and health i keep my orginal girls locked up in the coop while the new ones are in the dog crate still inside my coop. This keep their food and water separate so still technically quarantined. Plus my 'old' chickens, they normally & to care less about the new addition if allowed to free range since they're not forced to interact with them. locking them in the coop together but not really together forces them to interact and see one another without actually physically been able to get to one another.

I guess I should add that I am in favor of generally adding more than one hen at a time if exising flock has more than 3

Step 4 t'his is my coop now day'

if I don't see alot of feather throwing or squawking going on near the crate, in the coop, also if the weather is nice I let my older hens outside of 5he coop in the yard. This keeps them near the coop (since close to bedtime and gives me a chance to shut the coop off to the them (and not worry about them waiting to lay an egg)... once I shut the main gate to the coop, I open the dog crate door to allow the new hens to walkabout the coop.

This totally take them out of quarantine because they will now have access to the same food and water.

once the new ones feel comfortable enough stretching their legs around the coop and get near the fence line, This normally gets the older girls attention & they watch the newbies from the outside of the coop (why are you in my home kind of way)

Step 5: first night togethers bedtime. when sun is shining and it's time for the original chicken to come to bed that are out free ranging in the yard. I will open the fence gate into the coop and stand nearby to supervise that the old ones go in and the new ones don't get out. Most of the time the older girls hens are on a mission to go straight to bed and get their favorite spots without too much fuss about the new hens since they've already seen them in the dog crate and in the coop. The queen B of the flock may give Chase or a couple pecks to the newbies (but I stand nearby and play referee if I need, trying not to interfer) usually no more than about 10 or 15 minutes go by before everyone is really off to bed and find a spot to roost.

step 6 its a new day

This is where they become a flock & start free ranging together. for the next day I let them all out together just keep an eye that the newbies return to the coop. I also still make sure to give them electrolytes are probiotics during this whole process and sometimes I'll even put a little apple cider vinegar in their drinking water. I'm never really had a problem with them returning send normally they follow the older chicken right in until they get the flow of things.

Step 7: I leave the hens be for a couple weeks to just allow the pecking order to work itself out (of course contine all normal daily chores like feeding them and letting them in and out of the coop depending on weather )

Step 8. Normally after a couple weeks of free ranging if I noticed that there still not mixing together, I leave them all locked in the coop, together for a day or two to work out the pecking order. (I also do this from time to time just to test to make sure I'm getting the right number of eggs a day, since I prefer not to search over an acre for an egg) When I lock them up together to work out the order, I make sure to add something to distract them like a head of lettuce. I also remove the dog crate since at this point the new hens and old hens are using it & it is no longer a special safe place for the new ones.

So that's my method & madness, works for me. I've never lost a hen due to illness. I know most would disagree with the quarantine and say it needs to happen for at least two weeks if not longer. I'm never going to wait and see kind of gal.