[witchontheswitch]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and am a keeper of 16 chickens.  I have just bought 6 new P O L hens and have kept them sepearate from my old girls for just over a week (day and night) and now want to put them all in the same house.  Has anyone got any tips for me on the best way to do this?  I am thinking maybe at night so in the morning the old girls will think the new girls have always been there?  I am also thinking this could be harder than I think!

[dennis]

you need to keep them separate for a month to make surten there is nothing wrong with your new girls then let them out in the evening as you said

[Beano]

Have you kept them within sight of each other? I agree that you need to keep separate for at least another week and keep them within sight of each other. Put their feeders close the each others fence to get them used to the new company.
When you do eventually put the together there will be some scuffles unless you are very lucky. Just keep an eye on things and make sure that the youngsters have somewhere to hide from the others. Have plenty of feeding/watering stations scattered around. They will eventually sort themselves out but it can be brutal to watch. Good luck.

[bantam novice]

Hello there, witchontheswitch,

welcome to the forum and the wacky world of henaholics.    This is a really friendly forum and you'll get lots of good advice.  I'm not that experienced but it would agree with the other posters that you need to allow another week and start feeding them in sight of each other.

In addition I would suggest a few buckets of their sides to give a bolt hole for any hen that wants to get away

 I would also suggest some purple spray (yes it really is called that though it is actually gentian violet).  You can get it from any horse feed suppliers.  You will need to spray this on where any blood is drawn, being careful to avoid spraying in the eyes.  If the hens see blood or a blood coloured area they will continue to peck at it.  The purble diguises the colour.

In the meantime good luck and keep us posted. 

[Dominic]

I was planning on introducing the dogs, the chickens and the hosepipe all at once.

[dennis]

i agre with the violet spray its a must when you have new hens to put in with older ones hopefully you won't need it
you can get it on line just put in violet spray

[Vecten]

I was planning on introducing the dogs, the chickens and the hosepipe all at once.

Now there's a man with common sense.

[Dominic]

It stopped my chiauhahs barking at the collie nest door.....

[Vecten]

It stopped my chiauhahs barking at the collie nest door.....

The hosepipe seems to be much underated when it comes to bad behaviour. It always worked for me and I was just an average public schoolboy.

[SamnElla]

I was given some great advice by orchardlady when I put my girls together, try reading the thread "merging flocks", and see if that gives you any help

[witchontheswitch]

Sorry to sound a bit thick but where do I find "merging flocks" to read?

[joyfull]

click on this link:-

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=66024.0

[witchontheswitch]

Thanks Joyfull......it was good to read and I may try the torch.  Have been feeding them next to each other but behind wire and they seem to be getting familiar.  We will see when I put them together in a week or so.

[wildwitchy]

I put 11 new hens straight in with 2 old hens ( I just let them get on with it - they'll sort out the pecking order eventually attitude) & some of the new hens have fallen out with two of the younger hens of the new flock!! They've got on great with the old ones! I'll never understand chickens in all these years.  :blink:

[joyfull]

hello wildwitchy - good to see you back on here, long time no chat