DC_WIngnut
Chirping
Hello everyone,
We have seven mature hens in a coop some of which have begun to lay and a run attached to a grow out pen containing ten pullets. They are going on 8 weeks so I was wanting to combine them. I’ve made two entrance and exit doors for the pullets to go in and out of the run with the bigger girls and escape back to their pen. Some of them have gotten curious and gone in and at one point they all were almost in there together, but they got chased out by the bigger girls. I’m wondering what the timeframe looks like for them being comfortable with each other even though they’ve had look don’t touch privileges for weeks now. How many days should I give them to get comfortable and have their entrance and exit free for them to come and go before I close them and have them in with the big girls permanently? Like I said they have had face-to-face since they were almost 2 weeks old so they have seen each other it just seems like the bigger girls are being territorial over their space. I’ll attach some photos because I have done as others have said in cluttering up the run and having multiple food and water stations available for everyone. I also still have a food and water station in the grow out pen so I’m wondering if removing the food and water in the grow out would coax the pullets to go in by the bigger girls in order to eat and drink?
There is plenty of space for everybody inside and outside of the coop, but it seems like the pullets are accustomed to the grow out pen, so I’m not sure how to entice them to go into the other side because they do and they get bullied. Do I just need to give them a few days?
We have seven mature hens in a coop some of which have begun to lay and a run attached to a grow out pen containing ten pullets. They are going on 8 weeks so I was wanting to combine them. I’ve made two entrance and exit doors for the pullets to go in and out of the run with the bigger girls and escape back to their pen. Some of them have gotten curious and gone in and at one point they all were almost in there together, but they got chased out by the bigger girls. I’m wondering what the timeframe looks like for them being comfortable with each other even though they’ve had look don’t touch privileges for weeks now. How many days should I give them to get comfortable and have their entrance and exit free for them to come and go before I close them and have them in with the big girls permanently? Like I said they have had face-to-face since they were almost 2 weeks old so they have seen each other it just seems like the bigger girls are being territorial over their space. I’ll attach some photos because I have done as others have said in cluttering up the run and having multiple food and water stations available for everyone. I also still have a food and water station in the grow out pen so I’m wondering if removing the food and water in the grow out would coax the pullets to go in by the bigger girls in order to eat and drink?
There is plenty of space for everybody inside and outside of the coop, but it seems like the pullets are accustomed to the grow out pen, so I’m not sure how to entice them to go into the other side because they do and they get bullied. Do I just need to give them a few days?