Adding new chickens to a flock is not very difficult. The main thing to remember is let the old flock see the new flock members for awhile before they can fully interact. I find the wire dog crates very good for this purpose. Young or new flock members can even live in the same coop with the original flock while in a kennel cage, everyone seeing each other and getting used to each other with the safety of the cage bars between them. I've never used these dog kennels cages for dogs but they get used for about everything else around here. Just very handy cages to have with farm animals around. I bought a couple of these cages new, afer looking for good prices and gained a couple more through yard sale finds.
I generally have chickens seeing but not touching each other for two weeks or so. The first times I let the new flock members loose with the old flock members I watch the situation carefully in case there are any issues. Usually there are not issues because once chickens have seen each other for those couple weeks they have learned about each other and who is where in the pecking order. These new birds won't be running with the flock for awhile yet since they're only 6 weeks old and it's winter but today was a rare sunny warm (ish) day so out in a sunny spot in the yard the little birds went. A chance for fresh air, natural grit, exploration and getting to know the flock some more.
This gaggle of pretty silkies were oblivious to the visiting chicks they don't venture much out of the run until spring arrives.
I finished off more maple syrup today bringing the grand total so far to just over 3 gallons of syrup. AND I'm caught up now with boiling sap. The sap hasn't run much the last couple days. Hopefully we will get a few more good runs but it's nice to be caught up.
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