Since ages people have been raising various kinds of poultry birds in their backyards. True that, those are attached to this kind of work aim to expand their collections for fun; it’s indeed enslaving hobby. I have seen a live example in my family; my father is fond of keeping backyard birds. We have turkey, guinea fowl and lots of chickens there, but my father has special love and attention towards the chickens. Often he loves introducing new hens to a flock. With time he has learned a lot about the bird behavior and now he easily gets through the task of introducing the newer friends. Many of you must not know that the older flocks are not very much friendly, and they have adjusting issues with new friends.

If you continue to go through the excerpt, you would have a better idea how to deal with the issues and the harsh behavior of the older flock,there is some concepts which need to be understand

 Pecking order in the chicken - something you must know:

Poultry birds have some sort of their own developed psychic; if you talk about chicken only, they behave at their best when in smaller groups; in other words, they seem comfortable with a few friends and prefer squeezed social circle. Pecking order – if you are a backyard bird raiser, you must have an idea about this cliché – pecking order is not a scientific term, it basically means that the flock must have an order, or you can say a hierarchy. This would help all the hens know their standing and position; so, if you are looking towards to introduce a few more fellows in the already existing order, indeed you would face trouble, however, if you re-establish the order, you can overcome the issue easily.

Further, an established pecking order does not require any changes because the chicken at the highest level would be definitely stronger than the others. Even the maturity level would be different than the rest, so none of the bottom level chicken ever thinks of challenging the robust one. So, whenever introducing newer friends in the flock, think that you are somehow or the other destroying the family bonding; so in order to avoid the chaos, re-establishment of the pecking order would be the best tip.

Territory:

Another issue that requires immediate attention when mixing new chickens to a flock is territory; the older chickens which are now quite happy with their old members seriously doesn’t want any younger flock in their established kingdom. The sense of invasion makes them angry and they retaliate. So what can be done here is; you must establish two territories. For example, within your farm, you must carefully draw two territories and keep newer away from the older ones. They would look at each other daily and within a week or so their acceptance level towards each other would establish. This tip seriously works best.

 Bulling:

How can you keep a small dog with a ferocious big one? Similarly, you cannot keep a big robust rooster (above one year) with a premature growing cockerel (male bird less than one year). The maturity level between the new inductees and the older flock must be more or less the same. This issue is quite sensitive and you must keep in mind the age group and the sex of the birds too. At the same time make sure those who are getting bullied still get their required food, water and proper space.

Other than the mentioned valuable options, quick tips that would help you in mingling the newer flocks with older ones include;

1- Introduce pairs:

First of all make sure the new chickens that you are adding to the flock are good friends. For this, you can keep them together for a week or so; once their bonding is good enough, you can introduce them to the new group of friends – by doing this, you will simply avoid the major threat that new inductees would feel lonely as even if the older flock is not accepting, they would be friend with each other.

2- Introduce new pairs at night:

Many times it’s more practical to introduce new pairs during the night when the older flock is sleeping. Experience says this, the older chickens barely pay attention to such entries and hassles are on minimum scale.

3- Expand the space:

If you would be entering new hens without expanding the farm space, then the fights between the birds would be nothing new. If the number of chickens would be more than space and food containers, then there would be a complete mess in the farm.

4-Divide run:

Use a roll of wire to separate their run area for a while to allow the new flock to establish their area. Your established flock will get use of their smell and sound.

5-New space:

If possible introduce them in a new place for both of them. This will discourage old flock making their territory claim.

6-Food and water adequacy:

Ensure your new flock is given sufficient food and water before introducing with old flock, they may temporarily leave their eating habit and may get be bullied so make sure there is adequate food and water there.

7- Different age groups must be kept separately:

There is no point off mingling a baby hen with the older aunties. Trust me; this would lead to severe fights and bullying. Make sure you properly differentiate between the age groups of chickens.

8- Never let the weak suffer:

Chickens have the habit of playing pretty rude – they always attack on the newer weaker fellows. So, in you are making the mistake of merging weaker with bigger ones, you will end up creating a fight between the flocks.

9- Create distractions:

New chickens can be introduced by making the older chicks busy; I have seen my uncle doing this. He used to hang some fresh pieces of lettuce inside the chicken coop; but they used to be far away from the birds reach. The older chickens will get busy with the distractions and that’s the point where you can add newer fellows.

10- Play the game to add and subtract:

What you can do is take out a few older chickens from the farm and then add newer ones. By doing this you would easily get away with the problem of chickens acceptance towards each other. For example, if you are removing two roosters then add one new rooster. This would help females in getting attached to him.

Each of the united state regions is now broiling – wonder why the heat wave seems to have adored this place. Humans have ample amount of ways to counter this igneous heat but what about the animals around? I am being specific about our backyards fellows and other feathered creatures because they are absolutely innocent and rely on us for shelter when the temperature is torturing. One of the researches says that birds like turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, chickens and pea fowls cannot stand against the temperature of 90 degrees – they can even die cause of sun stroke/ heat stroke if exposed to soaring temperature than this.

Don’t worry, there are ample ways through which you can protect your little fellows and keep your flocks happier even if the shiny sun is in the mood to annoy them. This excerpt now highlights simple, affordable and quick ways through which you can keep chicken cool during the hot season. Raising backyard chicken is interesting but caring chicken is responsibility.

Identify the heat stress symptoms:

You must be wondering how to identify symptoms regarding heat stress in poultry? Well, their behavior would depict lots of things;

• Hyperventilation or panting: this refers to quick and short breaths by birds
• Laziness – they lie down on the ground with fully stretched wings
• Eating disorder – appetite shrinks
• They stop responding to stimuli

How to keep chicken cool in summer?

Here are the most inquired tips:

1: Choose the bird breed sensibly:

Indeed, you would never want to have a sick or lazy flock in the backyard – a healthy and active flock is something that each rasier would look up to. If that’s your goal, always select the bird breed wisely. What do I mean by this? See, there are a few heat tolerant breeds; similarly, you would come across cold tolerant breeds, and a few which cannot bear any extreme temperature. If you would build your flocks based on factors like beauty, rareness or egg laying ability only, you may face trouble. Before filling your coop clearly make a note of their habitats and abilities.

2: Chicken coop design should be considered:

Always inquire vendor about the coop designs; for example, the slanted roof has a greater tendency to absorb heat as well as the humidity. Similarly, all sides closed coop would also lead to suffocation; you must have a coop which allows fresh air to pass easily while providing enough shade inside the coop for birds.

3: Make sure enough shade is provided:

During summers specially, you must have shades and shelter at different places so that chickens and other birds can seek shelter there. What you can do is grow more shrubs, trees and porches – if you don’t have enough space, you can use man-made options for making shady areas.

4: Make water available:

You must place cold water for birds in their residency – try to change the water after 2 hours during peak summers. If that’s not possible for you, at the base of water containers place ice in plastic bags – this would help water retain coolness.

5: Use small ice air conditioners:

What you can do is, freeze water in small some containers and place them in the resting place of the birds. They would get an idea that while they are near the containers they feel relaxed and cold. It’s a good way to keep them away from heat strokes.

6: Provide dust bathing place:

By doing so you would reduce the chances of getting parasite as well as heat. When the temperature is ferocious, chickens make small holes in the dirt and would sit where they find cooler regions.

7: Use of electrolyte:

All you have to do is buy a powdered electrolyte from the store and mix it in the cold water as per the instruction on the packet.

8: Pay attention to nest Box area:

Smaller chicken coops face this type of a problem widely – as the day passes temperature inside the coop soars. You have to make sure that there is proper ventilation and air circulation where nest boxes are placed. You can use a fan or place freezers (ice air conditioners). In fact you must have nest boxes outside somewhere in shady regions for summers.

9: Change in diet:

Stop giving your chickens scratch and corn – they provide the body with extra heat and require longer time for digestion. Replace them items with fresh fruits and juicy vegetables.

10: Use Frozen foods:

Take out fresh and juicy fruits and vegetables and chop them into smaller pieces. Go to your flocks and let them enjoy this meal twice a day. This would help them retain energy and coolness. You can try;

• Watermelon
• Cucumber
• Oranges
• Berries
• Apples
• Pineapple

11: Water your coop:

If you have plants at the top, that means you have a green roof chicken coop, you must keep on watering it. Also, you can create a cold water pool inside the coop.

12: Decrease the litter in the coop: 

You must decrease the deep coop bedding – by doing so you would be able to keep the coop cool and clean. This would increase the air circulation and decrease suffocation.

13: Give birds freedom:

Your goal is to lower the chickens stress so try giving them a place to play and walk around. This would help keep away their stress.