Pecking Reorder
How do I incorporate a couple of new hens into my existing flock, which contains nine hens that are each 2 years old?
New flock members need to be introduced slowly for two reasons: biosecurity and pecking order. The first and more important relates to the ease at which various contagious diseases can pass from one chicken to another. If you plan to add chickens to your flock, you need to quarantine them from your existing flock for 30 days. It’s not good enough to examine the chickens to see whether they appear healthy.
Chickens are very good at hiding symptoms, and often by the time you notice anything wrong, the situation is serious. Quarantine new birds in a location far away from the rest of the flock where feces or feathers can’t cross-contaminate. Some pathogens can be transmitted through direct contact; others are airborne.
When you tend to the chickens during this quarantine period, feed and water your own chickens, then the new chickens, then change your clothing and footwear. To be extra cautious, tend to your existing chickens, change your clothing and footwear, wash your hands,
and then tend to the new birds so you don’t pass anything from your existing chickens either. Once you’re sure the new flock members are healthy, they need to spend a week or two adjacent to each other but behind fencing.
This “getting to know you” period is important to let the chickens establish their pecking order, get used to each other and allow the ultimate integration to go smoothly. At first you’ll notice the two groups of chickens charging the fencing, feathers puffed up, possibly jumping at the fence. Yet over the course of a week or two, things should settle down as everyone gets comfortable with each other.
When you’re ready to try integrating the two groups, allowing all the chickens to free-range together for a while first often works well because it’s a larger, more neutral territory. If free-ranging goes well, it’s time to place everyone in the coop and run together.
Watch carefully for the next few days. Minor skirmishes are normal as the pecking order gets sorted out, but if you notice excessive pecking or bullying, any sign of blood or a few chickens ganging up on one chicken, then remove the bully for a day or so to a small dog crate or cage out of sight of the other chickens. Then reintroduce the bird.
This often solves pecking issues. Do not, however, remove the victim — except in the case of serious injury — because this just puts that bird even lower in the pecking order when she returns to the flock.
No-Crow Device?
I would like to get a rooster for my flock, but I have close neighbors who won’t tolerate the noise. Do you know of anything I can use to make him not so loud?
I have never used a no-crow collar on any of my roosters, but I’ve heard that these collars can muffle a rooster’s crow somewhat. My question, however, is: Why do you want a rooster?
If it’s for flock protection, a rooster that doesn’t crow can’t call an alarm to warn the hens of immediate danger. If you want a rooster for hatching purposes, it would be easier to just buy fertile hatching eggs from a hatchery or breeder when you’re ready for new chicks instead of taking the chance of annoying your neighbors.
Vinyl for the Record
When I built my chicken house I put down vinyl flooring on the wood floor. I put down 3 inches of pine and cedar shavings. The footing is good, and cleanup is easy with the slick floor. I’ve not heard of others doing this. With a wood floor, this appears to be a good approach. Have you ever heard of it?
I have this setup in my coop now. I tried it in our first coop back in 2009 and liked it so much I did it again. I agree with you. The vinyl over the plywood makes cleanup easy, prevents the wood floor from rotting if it gets wet and discourages burrowing pests such as mites from taking up residence in the floor. I use straw bedding in my coop instead of shavings because I find shavings dustier, and cedar shavings can be harmful to chickens’ respiratory systems because of the strong oils in the wood.
Email your poultry-related questions to Lisa Steele at chickens@chickensmagazine.com, with “Flock Talk” as the subject line.