Two New Arrivals in the Chicken Yard

A friend of ours was looking to downsize their flock and asked Tricia if we'd like a couple.  Although we have too many chickens to begin with, we couldn't argue with the price and we've lost a couple lately to predators and the remainder of our flock is getting on up there in age.  It seemed like a good opportunity to add a couple replacement hens to our flock. 

Our friends put them in the pasture, but they were leery of their new feathered friends and stayed to themselves far away from the others.  In the middle of a driving rainstorm, they huddled next to the water trough, ostracized and alone.  We decided to introduce them slowly to the flock, so we put them in the chicken tractor in the backyard for a few days to let them get acclimated to their new surroundings.

The dark-colored hen, we were told is a French Cuckoo Maran.  We aren't sure of the breed of the white hen, but we were told she lays beautiful green eggs.

After a couple of days we put the newcomers into a pet carrier cage and positioned it near the barn so they could get to know the other chickens.  The other chickens came around and pecked at the new hens.  They weren't very hospitable.  The new hens acted nervous and afraid.

I would assume it would be a little intimidating to be a new arrival amongst a bunch of other hens.  Of course a new pecking order must be established.

Birds of a feather...

We let the new hens out of the cage after two more days.  They are slowly venturing out, but still mainly stay in one area, unlike the other hens that explore a 3 acre pasture.  That will come in due time.  With all the tension, the new birds hadn't laid any eggs until today.  Tricia picked up one laid by the cuckoo maran.  Our other hens are Barred Rocks, Black Stars, and Rhode Island Reds, and they all lay brown eggs.  The Cuckoo Marans lay dark brown eggs.  You can see it below on the left compared with a brown egg laid by one of our other chickens.  I think it is a pretty egg!

Marans, however, don't lay as many eggs as Rhode Island Reds or Barred Rocks, so it's not a breed to get if your goal is to get a lot of eggs.  It is a nice, dark brown egg, though.  Hopefully in a week or two our new hens will be welcomed into the flock by the other hens.