HELP! Introducing new chicks to the flock

nharbison0722

Chirping
May 26, 2016
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Hello everyone! Hope everyone is doing well out there. I have four chicks that I'm about to introduce to my existing flock. My existing flock is 6 chicks that are about 4 months old and the new ones (4 of them) are close behind at about 3 months. They ARE a little bit smaller than my existing flock. Last week, I took a kennel out into the main run and placed the four new girls in it for the chicks to all acclimate to each other. When feeding the ones in the kennel, there have been a couple of times that one of the smaller ones ran out of the kennel creating a HUGE ruckus with all the older birds pecking and attacking. What do I do? It's been a week and I want to let them roam freely, but I'm afraid for them to get hurt! It will essentially be 4 against 6. Any suggestions? I can leave the kennel out there as a safe place for the smaller ones to run into, but since they are just about similar in size, all the chickens would be able to run in there as well. I don't have a good way to provide an panic room for them because of that.
Any advice is greatly welcomed and appreciated!
Thanks,
Neil
 
There are alternatives to a regular panic room. I've found huge success with a simple card table placed in a corner of my run. The youngest pullets had outgrown the portals associated with their panic room, but they were still getting driven away from the food dishes. Placing their food on top of the card table solved the problem.

I also have a lot of perches in the run, and the youngest still prefer to use the highest ones when they want to avoid pecking order hassles.

Your older flock members are still very immature so they're going to be bullies for some more months to come. It's very important to provide plenty of escapes for the younger ones in the meantime. Don't worry, the older bullies will outgrow it and all will be peaceful eventually.
 
Thanks for your advice! One of my younger girls already had her head pecked on and caused a little bit of blood. I'm worried about them getting PHYSICALLY hurt. I have a card table, so I'll try that tonight! Thanks again
 

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