[Frizzle1]

I know this is not a new question but I need to find out about introducing one odd hen to five new ones. Problem is it's not gonna be easy seperating them as all I will have is a new coop housing five hens with a fixed outside run so will have no room to put them close by to get them use to my old hen. Is there any other suggestions other than separation for three weeks which was successful in the past but I just won't have the room to do this now. She will definately be wearing anti peck spray and so will I, always do.

[cammi]

Sorry Im a newbie, and i picked up another girl today.  Am i reading this right YOU wear anti peck spray too?  Why is this

[jinty1911]

What about a dogs cage inside the run? A wooden box or something like that inside the cage?  Not ideal but better than her getting bullied 

[Frizzle1]

Well the answer to your question about will i be wearing it, not literally but i always end up with it on my clothes depending on what way the wind is blowing lol. I have thought about a dog cage but think it will take up too much room in the run, plus when it comes to locking them up in the house of a night to stop mr foxy grabbing them she will be left in the run in her cage and he might dig under and take her, would never forgive myself if that happenens wouldnt sleep if i thought any of them were left out where he could see them.

[orchardlady]

Dog crates/cages come in a very varied size choice. Considering you will be having 6 birds in total in the entire run at some point the floor space for the dog crate will not be any bigger than you will be offering the flock 6 times over. I'm not positive of what is seen as an acceptable floor area for penned garden hens but think really hard about having enough space for them all. I would go for a dog crate thats roughly 3 ft by 2 ft for a bog standard hen. Remove her from the run at night and pop her into a cardboard box with ventilation holes in your garden shed until the morning when you can return her to her dog crate. Also provide her with something on the floor wire otherwise she will not be able to sit down comfortably and her feet will become sore from standing on the wire mesh of the cage.

All in all I think you are possibly not going to be able to give your birds enough space. Have you thought about reducing the number of new birds to maybe 3? It will offer all the birds more space and hopefully reduce boredom, stress and all the problems associated with them.

If you really feel you don't have adequate space think with great care about keeping hens at all.
I have no desire to be patronising or bossy but you really do need to consider the well being of the birds over your desire to keep them.

Lastly I should have asked you first what is the floor area of your run? This is the important question. If you don't have adequate run space you will not be able to keep that many hens healthy and happy.

[Frizzle1]

Thanks again for your reply. Having had twenty five hens this time last year ive been keeping hens for twenty odd years but never on such a small scale. Coop size was worked out by a very popular chicken breeder of about 2,000 hens. Measuring 82" long 41" high and 30" wide with complete free range at least 3 to 4 times a week still dont wanna take up their space anymore than i have to.

[hillfooter]

If I understand you are introducing 5 new hens to one odd hen which is established?  If so this might not be so bad since only your old hen will be being territorial.  Your new hens if they weren't a flock previously and therefore bonded with an established pecking order will not be behaving in a teritorial way so the only disputes that will be occuring are to establish a pecking order.  Just watch your old hens as she maybe very stressed suddenly having to share her territory with several strangers however as they will out number her I doubt she'll too aggressive.  I don't think you will need to introduce slowly in this case.  You'd have a lot more trouble trying to do it the other way round though.

Generally when new hens are introduced the established hens will guard their territory and try and drive the new ones off, they will prevent them from eating and drinking by guarding the feed and water.  Once the new birds become accepted into the flock individual pecking (usually not too vicious) will happen to establish the pecking order.  You will get this but probably not the more viscious territorial fights.  

So forget about dog crates and slow introduction just put them all in together and watchout for any vicious fighting just in case but otherwise just let them sort out the pecking order without covering them with antipecki spray. You ONLY need this if there's a feather eater (boredom habit) in the flock.  The odd peck is normal to sort the pecking order and you shouldn't try to stop it with antipeck spray.  In fact antipeck spray should never be needed if you have a proper feeding and husbandry method established.  It won't stop territory dispute fighting or pecking order establisment so save your money and leave it on the shelf.  

If your hens start feather eating by plucking feathers this is a behaviour problem caused by bad management usually.  So your first action would be to try and find what's wrong and it will be usually to do with nutrition or overcrowding or boredom.  Put that right and the problem should go away.  If there's one persistant culprit which is usually the case who has this habit ingrained the next thing to try would be a beak bit and or separation for a while.  In many years keeping birds I've never needed spray.

Ordinarily I'd say quarentine for three weeks before introducing but since there's only one hen at risk here I wouldn't bother.

HF

[joyfull]

can I please point out to everybody that the minimum run space for a bird is 1 square meter per bird and ideally should be 2 or even 3 square meters per bird. If the birds are let out for 2 or 3 afternoons a week this still leaves a lot of time enclosed in the run. You can maximise the space by adding several levels using tables, logs etc.

[hillfooter]

can I please point out to everybody that the minimum run space for a bird is 1 square meter per bird and ideally should be 2 or even 3 square meters per bird. If the birds are let out for 2 or 3 afternoons a week this still leaves a lot of time enclosed in the run. You can maximise the space by adding several levels using tables, logs etc.

I was reading the coop size to mean the house size so if that quoted is the run area you are planning for 6 hens (82ins by 30ins floor area that's not even enough for two.  You can't take the  area used for a flock of 2000 and scale it down to six.  2 sqm per bird with the ocassional half day free range would be a min IMHO.
HF

[orchardlady]

How big is the fixed outside run?

OL

[Frizzle1]

Well at the moment it's no size because I'm still deciding on what one to get,just been looking at different sizes but the one I was looking at has 82" run space but maybe I will look for a bigger one then there's loads about.

[Frizzle1]

I have just been on the Internet looking at this hen house I was gonna get and it says will comfortably house 5 to 7 birds of large breed and it seems to be on all poultry sites as it very popular so now I'm confused again. Thanks HF for your good reply

[Casey76]

Hi frizzle,  can you post a link to the proposed hen house?

The problem is that while the houses themselves may be large enough for the number of birds advertised (but not always!), in most cases the provided runs are far too small.

For 6 hens you will need a run at least 6sq yards (54 sq feet), but by the time you add feeders, drinkers, dust bath, perches etc, you are really needing to have between 12 and 18 sq yards (108 to 162 square feet) of space in the run.

This can be achieved by creating a movable run around the coop/integral run with an electric fence, or movable hurdles and opening the door to the integral run.

[orchardlady]

I would go for as big a space you can fit and afford when it comes to the run. Hens as you know are funny creatures and in the past I've had 10 birds jamming themselves into a house made for 5 when there is plenty of space in other houses they could choose. I think the rule of thumb is the perching space and nest boxes rather than the size of the house. So go for something with at least two nest boxes and 12 inches of perching space per bird.

It might be of help to us nosey lot if you post a link to the house you are looking at.

OL

[Frizzle1]

Your having a steffie, I don't do technical so it's best yer don't go there lol even with it expained how to do attachments I still won't know it's all too complicated for my liking can only just do basic browsing let alone that so think attachments are right out