Flock Integration

[mrskenmore]

Hello,

I have two 3 year old laying hens and two 18 week old laying hens (1 started laying, the other is close) they have lived next to each other for the past 8 weeks in a separate part of the coop using the look but don't touch policy. In the past two weeks I have been opening up the door that separates them so that they can meet each other. I sit in the coop with them should there be any blood drawn. The little girls seem to get the drift of if they step out of line they will get pecked at, so the fighting has now been reduced. (there was a lot of fighting and screaming the first few days, which I didn't interrupt) There is a lot of perching, running and hiding on the little girls part. My question is, how much longer does this go on, yesterday I sat in there with them for an hour and as long as the little girls stay out of the way of the big girls there is no fighting. I want to know when it will be safe for them to live with each other without me watching. I am going to put them together this afternoon for awhile and not be in the coop for once. Anyone know when it will be safe for them to spend the day together? Currently they look but don't touch during the day and they are together with me just sitting there (I don't break up any fights) for a few hours each night. I just don't want to leave them for the day without knowing what the big girls are capable of... I would hate to come home from work and someone be injured.

Thanks for your help!

 

[PD-Riverman]

Good Luck!! We all do things the way "we" want and that's your business. I been raising chickens for over 50 years and I have seen to much hurt and deaths mixing chicks and some hurt pullets doing what you are doing. Does Not happen any more on my Farm. I stopped that some years back---maybe 20, 25 years ago. Now I don't have older chickens pecking, hurting, even killing my younger chicks. I Never mix.

 

[mrskenmore]

So you never put two flocks together? Or are you saying they should be older than 18 weeks. I am not trying to put them together without supervision, I am slowly working on them getting used to each other so that they will one day live together... Am I missing something here?

 

[adcockfarm]

Keep trying! we have successfully doubled our 3 hen flock, although we had blood drawn frequently on one of them, they are even past that.

 

[PD-Riverman]

So you never put two flocks together? Or are you saying they should be older than 18 weeks. I am not trying to put them together without supervision, I am slowly working on them getting used to each other so that they will one day live together... Am I missing something here?

I never put two flocks together---not young several months old with several years old.

My set-up I am sure is different than yours. I do not have Pet Chickens--sure I be friendly with them but not pets. I raise up a new flock and when they start laying, the older flock is sold, but I do this every 2 years so I never have hens close 3 years old, never have to watch them get old, stop laying then die from old age or sickness due to being old. Its "my way" and I respect you having a different way. My Numbers are usually higher than the average back yard flock. So a person with 10 chickens---its not a biggie----but when I have 100 or 200 its a biggie to me.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I wanted to add, I see some that allow them to fight, blood up the new ones----I can not do that, I would want to ring some necks if a older hen kept hurting one of my younger ones---so to stop the stress on me personally as well as the young---I rather see the older(around 2 years old) sold to a new home and let the younger---become the owners of the coop than to see all this pecking and hurting. Plus like I said above----doing it that way---I never have old hens to dye and bury. Works for me.

 

[mrskenmore]

Okay- Understood.. yes, unfortunately I only have 4 hens due to a death in the spring and a rooster that had to be re-homed. I know people have successfully integrated their flocks in the past and I am hopeful as I have docile breeds. I do know thought that they are animals and can sometimes act like that despite the facts that they have names and are pets. So I will continue to work on getting them together.

 

[lazy gardener]

To OP: a lot depends on your set up, as well as coop and run size. If you have a minimum of 4 s.f. in the coop, and 10 s.f. in the run per bird... if you have plenty of perching and multi height, as well as out of sight (but no dead end spots) opportunities for the pullets so they can get out of sight/reach of the hens. And if you have multiple feed/water stations, that will decrease the stress a lot. Your biggest challenge is going to be when they go into the coop to roost at night... the integration should continue to progress well.

 

[mrskenmore]

We have over 100 sq ft of coop/run and 4 girls. there are two waters and two feeders at opposite ends. There are distractions of hanging basket of weeds, a ball filled with meal worms and me sitting in the middle lol. The little girls live in a converted piece of furniture in the back, (the big girls have a coop with the nesting boxes and roost) when they are all together and the little girls are feeling scared, they just pop up on the roost bar and get out of the way, the big girls leave them be then. There are two large perches for them to fly to and in the corners I place cardboard boxes for them to jump up on and then possibly to a nearby perch option as I noticed that the coop corners (it is L shaped so we have 8 corners) were where the little girls were really getting cornered and picked at. Putting the boxes in reduces that issue. I am working on an additional 200 square feet of outdoor run area for them as well. Everyone is starting to eat the same food now as I am finishing up the last bag of starter/grower crumbles. I usually have no patients, however I am learning that it is a virtue when it comes to chickens AND chicken integration lol!

 

[Sharon Barrett]

Now this leads me to a question what about a hen that hatches egg's can they join the flock already established if the hen is part of the flock to begin with?