is introduction needed???

BigFishLittleFish · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:50 pm

So i started with 3 x 4 week old isa brown chicks... one passed away and i am going to pick 4 more up on Thursday. they will be nearly 7 weeks by then. I am buying the other chicks from the same farm i got the first 3 from. i am told they are even from the same hatch so are exactly the same age as my already existing chooks. Also isa brown females.
I have read lots and am wondering for only 7 weeks old will they need the whole introduction process or is being young a good thing and will just accept the newcomers ???

it sounds like a dumb question but i'd rather be prepared than find out later that i will be needing a new pen or worrying if they wont get along...

thank you in advance....

oh one more thing..... when they come to egg laying age... will each chicken need a nest box each or do they share?? whats the ratio on nest boxes ?? there is currently 2 in the pen with hay and they sleep in there every night even though they have perches and stuff.

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:05 am

Ideally if it is easy for you to have a second pen it would be great to put the newcomers in so that your existing flock can get acquainted with them with the chook wire as a barrier then they can integrate with minimal hen pecking. A second even smaller pen always comes in handy for broodies, new introductions or as a quarantine area or sick bay. Or perhaps if the pen is large enough, partition a section of for the new girls so they are in the same pen and once again have the safety of a barrier until they get to know each other.

If your existing pen is big enough to house the new girls comfortably, just pop them in at night so they all wake up together, there probably will be a bit more hen pecking to establish their rank and order.

Hens tend to share nesting boxes, even if you had the luxury of one nesting box per girl they all seem to take it in turns to lay in the one nesting box. They are rather funny to watch as they look like they are queuing to go to the ladies' loo, trying to hold on and wait their turn, you would thing that they would hop on a vacant box.

If they are sleeping in the nesting box, just make sure that all the night's poo is cleaned in the morning when they start laying as good hygiene is essential, you don't want eggs covered in poo as the egg shells are porous and can absorb bacteria and worse in the summer flies sitting on the poo in the nesting box, which might lead to maggots in the nesting box etc

If you want your girls to roost on the perches, just block of access to the nesting boxes and pop them on the perches when they go to roost.

BigFishLittleFish · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:51 pm

thanks for the reply... haha funny how yours share and each wait. i think in the end i will end up with 4 nest boxes for 6 birds. doing some changes on the coop and a larger sleeping quarters area for them.

Is it essential they sleep on perches and not in the nest boxes? i dont mind them sleeping in the nest boxes as they look warm and cosy, but maybe it is essential they roost on a perch ?? I dont know :-?

if they do need to i guess i can block the nests off at night with a ply board or something so then they have no option but to sleep somewhere else. but the ground in the coop sleeping part is all hay too so maybe they will still sleep on the floor anyways ???
and out side of the coop is all dirt. i don't think they will want to sleep there out in the cold air :?:

and if a feral cat was to break in i am sure it would easily find a way in to the outside parts but the inside coop is completely safe from just about anything in a city yard.

anyways i pick the new chicks up in the morning ... excited to see them and see how they go in their new home.

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:59 am

BigFishLittleFish wrote:

Is it essential they sleep on perches and not in the nest boxes? i dont mind them sleeping in the nest boxes as they look warm and cosy, but maybe it is essential they roost on a perch ?? I dont know :-?

That's entirely up to you, someone else may be able to offer you another opinion about the pro's and cons regarding roosting on a perch. The weather gets pretty cold down here so mine huddle up in one nesting box, I just clean it out in the morning so the girls are not sitting on poo when they lay, as they wouldn't sit in the clean nesting box that they didn't sleep in, would they!

If you can put mesh/wire on the coop floor covered with a deep litter (better for the chook's feet), and that will hopefully keep out the rodents and ferals. Be careful with wet hay especially in winter as it can get mouldy which can lead to respiratory infections in chooks.

Good luck with the new girls.

Elle Jay · **Posted:** Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:46 am

BigFishLittleFish wrote:

Is it essential they sleep on perches and not in the nest boxes? i dont mind them sleeping in the nest boxes as they look warm and cosy, but maybe it is essential they roost on a perch ??

Our girls have always refused to sleep on their perches too, they also prefer to sleep in the nesting boxes. We tried to get them to perch when they were young, we would put them on the perch, but half an hour later they were always back in the nesting boxes. I think it may be because our chook house is one of those common ones you buy these days and really they are too low, if the chooks perch they are practically pressed up against the roof! We have two chooks and they have always tended to poop in one nesting box and lay in the other one. We just clean the dirty straw out daily and try to collect the eggs early. It really doesn't cause any problems, you just have to do a bit more cleaning.

Our girls free range in the backyard during the day, and often perch on low branches etc. I would be concerned if they would never perch, but at night I think the nesting box is just a cosier option!

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