Head over heart.....part two

[Ger-annie-um]

So, for those who generously gave advice in 'head over heart part 1' Hannah is still with us..............still being a pain in the rear end and not producing more than one decent egg in 5 but she's a character and staying put. Next problem

We are taking on ( or should that be they are taking on us) 3 new columbian blacktails this coming Monday. We have a new coop and are very scared about introducing the new 'red hot hopefuls' to the 'been there done it and fed up oldies'. Advice on intregating them all before we go on a 2 week family visit 18th August would be good. Now, the newbies are going to be about 16/17 weeks old. Question - can they go straight on to layers pellets or do I need to feed them growers pellets first.
God, this is worse than having children

[Bal]

I have no idea as I have only just started keeping chickens myself, (japenese bantams) but I am hoping to get some more soon, and am reading all your posts with interest. Good luck

[fishpond]

Glad to hear Hannah will be spared the pot.
You are adding 3 to existing 3?
1 school of thought is to Separate them for 2 weeks during the day so that they can see each other but not touch, and let them sleep together at night, this is after the quarantine period
Could you give them a separate run and house until you came back?
Another school of thought is just bung them in together after the quarantine period and let them get on with it (with a few escape routes but not dead ends)--- the last time I did this I ended up with 1 dead one--but as cluckies go, I think Black tails are a bit more laid back than some.
I also think that any deaths would have occurred anyway as the strongest seem to know if there is something wrong with a clucky and act before we notice.( survival of the fittest/law of the jungle).
So I would put them in the coop together on the 1st night (after the quarantine period)--let them run together the following day, let them get on with it from there on with some minimal intervention, but keep a good eye out for any signs of blood and clean up/separate immediately.
You should quarantine any new birds for a couple of weeks before they are introduced to your existing flock as your existing flock may have something that you new birds haven't built up immunity to also vice versa. (my last new Cluckies came with gape worm which showed up a few days after I had collected them)
There are many different schools of thought so it will be interesting to see what others would do.
Personally, no problem with straight on to layers at that age.
Is, whoever will be looking after them whilst you are away, used to Cluckies?

[elizajay]

I collected 2 3-month old pullets and the breeder advised me to keep them on growers for another couple of months. I kept them separate for a week. Now my oldies sleep with the newbies. I let the oldies out to free range during the day and their food is outside. I put the growers pellets down when the oldies have left for the day. I let the newbies free range for a short while in the evening and lift their food until the morning. I haven't seen too much conflict, but the newbies keep a low profile until the oldies have left for the day and they avoid each other when free ranging.