Introducing year olds to "week"lings?

I've read a few threads on introducing flocks to one another but I thought I'd put my situation out there for feedback.

We have one roo and six hens that are 10 months old. From that we hatched 21 chicks who are now 2 months old (14 roos and 7 hens).
They have been living in the same coop for about 5 weeks separated by a wall with a window so they hear each other but can't see one another.

We have an outdoor run that's about 4000 sq feet. Each flock has it's own door outside. I tried opening both doors the other day and the few little ones who were brave enough to go out were picked on by the hens of the older flock but not the roo.

In a few weeks we'll be making meat of the roo babies but in the meantime, they are outgrowing the nursury and I think would enjoy a play outside.

Am I jumping the gun trying to intoduce these two flocks with such an age gap?

Yes. Everything I've read recommends keeping younger birds in a separate grow out pen until they're full grown.

I would keep them separate until the younger ones are the same size as the older ones--that's what worked for me. Otherwise the little ones were always too much smaller to defend themselves. They were one month apart.

Don't some people just let their chicks hatch in a coop where all their chickens live and the momma raises her peeps right there in the same coop, and the babies are exposed to every one from the start?

I can't say from experience, this is just what I've gathered from reading. But I believe the mother hen would defend her chicks and "introduce" them.

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That's exactly what I was thinking too... Kind of like letting nature handle it.

Yes, I have had my mama hen raise her babies in the main coop. The thing is you do not have a mama hen? I am assuming that you raised your eggs in an incubator or if you did let a broody raise them, you separated her from the flock.

If you used an incubator, the chicks have no mother, and all of the other hens will pick on them, and sometimes mercilessly to death. I have heard about a roo being good around chicks, but I would not trust another chicken around the babies without the broody mother to take care of them. She will defend them vigorously, and the others will learn to leave them alone, but only her chicks of the current hatching. And some will not protect them for long enough, I was lucky and my broody protected them till they were nearly full grown or big enough.

If you separated the broody hen from the flock, then you have reintroduction issues for her too. Which can be tough, and she might abandon the care of the chicks in the effort to get back into the flock.

You can have mixed ages/sizes in the flock but you need one tough broody hen to make it go. MrsK

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I've essentially done this 5 times now -- but the mama fiercely protects the chicks. The mama has now "kicked out" my last batch, now 7+ weeks, but the rest are used to the chicks now -- and the chicks aren't really part of the flock, hang out by themselves (chicken yard is 64' X 64') and sleep in a nest. They get picked on a little mostly told to let the big girls eat snacks first, so I have to sneak the chicks their share.

If one of my broodies had not been a good mama, protecting her chicks, I would have removed them.

The older rooster will likely run those little boys ragged if you introduce them now. The boys are much harder to introduce than the girls are. But 2 months is still too young for the babies in general. I kept my 3 hatched girls put up until about a week ago, when they were 4 months old. Big enough and smart enough to get the heck out of the way of the big girls. They still haven't made it to the roost yet, they've been sleeping behind the feed can instead of in their old house box. So I put food and water separate there for them. The only hen being mean to them now is the one lowest on the hierarchy in the main flock. The bossy mean ones pretty much leave them alone now. I moved them outside at 3 months old, and they were kept separate inside the coop for a month.

You can let nature take it's course, but once the older ones start their bickering, especially the boy, be aware that some of those little boys could end up quite bloody. Depends on the rooster. I had a couple that treated chicks like instant flock members and would share his wing on the roost. But the majority were buttheads about it.

Their bickering can get pretty serious, or not much at all. You can try it and separate them again. I had 2 false starts with my babies this time. Last time the rooster I had said it wasn't happening and he was a super sweet pet so I was a little surprised.

Thanks so much for the feedback. I've since also found the thread on introducing flocks on this site.

These chicks were raised in a brooder and not by a mother hen in the older flock.

I think we'll consider building a mini outdoor pen within the outside run to allow both flocks to see eachother. Eventually, we plan to introduce the young hens to the other flock but will be eating the poor baby roos. In the meantime, we'll have to give them alternate days outside in the run.

I'm surprised to see it's the hens who are so aggresive to the young ones. The roo doesn't seem to care at all but he's never been a very "ballsy" roo. The only time I've ever watched him freak out is when we have children in the coop!