introducing new chicks

[MakelaNJoe]

I have two silkieXpolish pullets i bought them April 20th as 3 week chicks( now aprox 13 wks) i went and got 2 new chicks aprox 4 weeks old (now 6-7 wks) i have the younger chicks in a small coop in the back of the coop under my nesting boxes they have been there aprox a week and a half now. There was some squabbling the first day and night and the chicks made an escape late the first night out after the bigger girls had gone to roost for the night! Thankfully i heard them in the backyard and got them secured better! All has been going well past week with no escapes and no squabbles. Im wondering should i wait until the younger chicks get the same size as the pullets? As they are still growing as well this might take quite some time? Any advice would be great!

 

[aart]

Can you make an opening in their littles enclosure that they can fit thru but the older birds can't?

They might be too close in size for this to work...but it can be a great way for them to integrate if the littles have a 'refuge' to escape too.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[MakelaNJoe]

@aart thanks so much for all the advice!

The mini coop is wrapped in poultry wire and i have a wire cage around the bottom half(used to be for guinea pigs) so the little guys couldn't get out and get pecked to death! I let them out for a trial run today and only had a few pecks mainly when the younger ones would get scared and start freaking out it was almost as if the elders were saying "whats your problem? Knock it off!" I think i will remove the extra wire and lossen the poultry wire so the youngens can get in and out on there own accord.

I have an open feed system a heavy dish for feed and an automatic waterer(for a dog or cat) with marbles in the bottom just in case!! The younger chicks have there own dish of water and food should i add additional food and water in the coop or will this be sufficient?

Also they have plenty of room to run i have a 5ft by 4ft coop with an attached run that is 4ft by 4ft each are aprox 5ft tall, what kind of hiding places would be good? I have a few roosts my nestboxes are raised but other then that not much to hide near.

Sorry for all the questions! Im still pretty new to chickens and trying to avoid an injury at all costs! Thanks again!

 

[aart]

Oh, I wrote all that a long time ago and just paste the whole thing.

Are they free ranging also?
Can you post a pic of the setup?

That's not much space to work with...but the chick barrier sounds good as long as the older birds can't get in there.
As soon as no one's being to badly pecked, you can probably remove the barrier but leave the extra food/water station.
Maybe simply lean a board against a wall, open at both sides, for them to hide behind.
Putting extra 'stuff' in the run, stumps, concrete blocks, roosts, etc can give them all more places to 'be' away from each other.

 

[MakelaNJoe]

I havent tried to free range together yet but they get about 3-4 hours of free ranging time. I live right in town next to a busy road and my fence is only 5 ft tall cyclone so i let them out when i have the time to keep an eye on them about an hour at a time throughout the day 2 hours in the evening before dusk. My coop was originally built for 3 chickens with them being free ranged part of the day i lost a chick to a naughty heeler of my husbands! When there was only the two left it was as if they were lonely so i thought of getting one more but couldnt single one out so got the two new chicks! Also my coop was made of all recycled parts the fencing the coop even the nest boxes are all preused construction pieces hubby was able to put it together in an hour and for less then the price of a box of screws! I have a few concrete blocks couple roosts i will look around for more "places to be" for them after this heat resides this evening!

 

[MakelaNJoe]

Its not perfect or pretty but it works great and we are supposed to build a bigger better coop this winter!

 

[azygous]

If you're still pretty new to raising chickens from the early stages, you still have a lot to learn about their psychology. It's important to understand that baby chicks begin life with a set of inborn fears. These are natural and help to keep them safe, but it presents a hurdle when merging a younger set with an older set since one of these fears is that they're afraid of any chickens larger than they are.

First of all, chicks slowly develop self confidence as they learn to deal with challenges. But they derive a good deal of their self confidence to meet those challenges by being a member of a "unit". A solitary chick has an awful time trying to fit into an adult flock. Even two and three chicks are usually so badly outnumbered by the existing flock as to have a very tough time.

So from here on, it's best you know that you need to add chicks in numbers of four or more for ease of integration.

So, where to go from here? I just answered another one of these posts on another forum where the younger chickens were having such a terribly hard time fitting in. The answer is to separate them for a while so the two groups can adjust to one another through a fence, then open smaller openings in the fence so the smaller ones can come and go as they develop the courage, retreating to safety as they need to.

If you have a "grow-out pen" set up when you get more baby chicks, and raise them right next to the adults, they all get used to being part of the flock that way, so then when the chicks begin exploring the run where the adults are, the adults are far less likely to bully them.

It's a slow process, this developing self confidence, but chicks that haven't got any behave in such a way as to actually invite bullying. It's important for you to arrange things so your youngsters have the space and safety in which to become self confident, and the only way for them to get the courage to begin the process is if they have a safe place they can retreat to.