Adding Chickens to your Flock

Last year around this time, we lost one of our chickens to a hawk. It was devastating. A few days after our loss, my husband had a wonderful idea that we should get another chicken, better yet two, since they will be quarantined for a while. So, what’s the best way to go about adding chickens to your flock?

Same Size Chickens 

When adding chickens to your flock, it’s best to add the same age or size to avoid injuries or even pecking deaths. The established flock has already determined their pecking order and the new girls will have to fit in somewhere.

You want your new birds to be large enough to defend themselves. At the time, our current flock was five months old. Herb found a man online that had birds around seven months old. We loaded up the old guinea pig cage and hit the road

There were at least 100 birds there. Our daughter automatically spotted a Silkie.

Silkie’s tend to be broody and their eggs are much smaller than regular chicken eggs. Not what I was expecting to come home with, and yet …

Then, I saw a beautiful Golden Laced Wyandotte. She was extremely docile and allowed me to hold her.  And just like that, the decision was made, we had the newest members of our flock.

Quarantine for 30 Days when Adding Chickens to your Flock

It’s best to keep the new birds quarantined from your flock for at least 30 days to observe for any illness. We had an old dog house that would serve as their coop.

We made our first mistake by letting the girls interact immediately.

Our new girls, Hazel, the Wyandotte, and Baby, the Silkie, were in the guinea pig cage while I washed out the dog house.

The other three were strutting around and squawking A LOT but after a few minutes, they went on with their day foraging.

If the new birds had any respiratory illness, it could have spread very easily to our existing flock. I’ve since learned that a respiratory infection can kill your entire flock.

The stress the chickens experienced in moving can exacerbate any illness ans will present itself within about 3 weeks. So, you want to keep them separate while your monitor for any symptoms.

Our Next Mistake:

We decided to let the new girls out in the coop to get familiar with the area.  My husband constructed a makeshift run inside the area where the doghouse would go.  

When quaranting your new birds, you want to keep them separate for 30 days and at least 30 feet apart. We should have built a totally separate area.

As dusk approached, Hazel roosted on top of the dog house. Baby went inside and made a nest, and our original girls went to their coop.

Next the Chicken Check-Up

So, the following morning, I went out to the run early. Everyone’s alive!  Another mistake. We really should have done a chicken check-up as soon as we got home.

But, better late than never I guess. So, no breathing issues. Poop looked normal (all though I’m always questioning what is normal). But something was wrong with their beaks. They were trimmed, and it appeared that they were struggling to eat.

Baby’s was worse than Hazel’s. It looked like she was using her tongue to pick up the feed. Some chicken keepers trim beaks to keep the birds from injuring each other when pecked.

Pecking and feather pulling tends to happen more frequently when overcrowding occurs. 

I understand why some do this, but my heart broke when I saw how difficult it was for them to eat. I hadn’t noticed this the day before. What else had I missed?!

Lice and Mites

On closer inspection, Hazel had what I thought was poop on her bum, but It was lice! And it was BAD! What looked like little balls of poop was actually nits or lice eggs.

And it got worse…her legs were crusty and peeling. I realized this was scaly leg mites. Baby was fine…no sign of lice or mites. I was so overwhelmed and not prepared for any of this.

Now, instead of treating just the two of them. I was treating everyone and the coop and run. If we had quarantined them correctly, I would have saved myself a lot of time and effort.

Be sure and check out my blog post on common parasites in backyard chickens.

 

What had I gotten myself into.

I thought about the man we purchased the birds from. He was nice, and I was impressed with how clean the conditions were. My husband skeptically said, “He could have gone out that morning and spread fresh hay since he knew we were coming.” Ugh How many mistakes are we up to…5?

Herb was right. We didn’t know this man and had no recommendations. We made a trip to Tractor Supply (my new favorite store) to purchase some medication.

So the next time we add chickens to our flock, we will ask for recommendations and purchase only from a reputable seller.

What to look for when adding chickens to your flock

Inspect the birds. Don’t just trust because the area is clean that nothing is wrong. In addition to mites and lice, look for any signs of respiratory illness, coughing, wheezing, watery eyes, and eye or nasal discharge. Make sure their combs are nice and bright with no discoloration. They should be active and eating and drinking.

We were lucky that we only had two issues to deal with. I now realize how much worse it could have been. Once you own a few chickens, something happens, and you will want more. Chicken math is real. Just use these tips when you decide to expand your flock.