I have a lonely little chicken after her sister was dragged away by a racoon the other night. A kind neighbor with 4 chickens will foster her during the rest of the winter. So far, she has been a bit picked on when we've taken her over. Being the overprotective mum, I keep bringing her home. Does anyone know of a "painless" way to introduce a new hen to others?

I have added over 20 chickens to my original brood in less than one week at a time. I did not add smaller or overly large ones tho. They were all about the same size although not the same age. I put the new chickens in a cage next to the ones I already had for about a week so that they could see each other and hear what everyone had to say. Then I would let the original chickens (a few at a time) out to mingle with the newer ones. After awhile the original ones would fly over the fencing and join the new ones(helped that the newer ones had all the greens). When all was said and done they were happy to be together. Just remember if you have a rooster, don't try to add another as this will cause big fights. I had a little roo was not sure he was and when he matured it caused a big problem with the mature roo I already had. I keep them separated in two different pens so now they crow together in the mornings but cant see each other.

One other thing I would like to add. I do not have my bantams with the bigger chickens and I am not breeding them for show. I have mine mixed together for company until I decide if my RIR's are show quality. The roo is beautiful but I don't know what show quality is to look like.

If you have a large area just bring in the new birds in and let them loose neer the others. They will get their pecking order situated and then go to bed without fighting. And if you need to bring in a rooster while you have another roo. just bring him in before he is sexualy mature.

YoYo

Introducing is hard, I hear. What worked for me is a few factors. Before I released my near-grown chicks to my full-grown hens, they were separated by wire for a few weeks so they could get used to each other.
Then, I had a big yard for them all. When I put them together, there was plenty of room to run. A few feathers got plucked out in a ploy for dominance, but that's it.

All are fortunate who move new birds in with older ones safely! Even a week or two of age difference in 6-8 week old birds can be disasterous! I have tried the separation by wire, which seems to work well for most, but mine have just picked out the ones they plan to "kill" when they get together! So I VERY rarely put new birds with old or old birds with new. (I have a lot of pens now!!) CJR

Tina's technique is the way we do mergers. I think it's important to offer alternative sources of food for the newcomers because the established hens will often exclude the new ones from the best areas. Beware of exclusion from the water, too. Our new pullets spent quite a bit of time on the roosts during the day, but always came down to eat out of a separate feeder for them. I put the feeder on top of the pen for a while, then took the pen out and put it on the floor. The whole process took about three weeks. Although a couple of pullets still go up on the roost quite a bit, everyone else is getting along fine. No one has been picked noticeably. Hope this helps.