ForFlocksSake
Songster
My 4 new pullerts are 8 1/2 weeks old. I’ve had them outside in the run in a see/don’t touch pen all day every day for 2 weeks. I’ve been trying little by little to let them out in gen pop with my 5 older girls (7 months) but it’s just never very pretty. I sit out there for an hour at a time to supervise. I prop the door to their pen slightly so they have a safe space to get back to and I set up another safe space at the farthest end of the run (though they haven’t found that yet.). They come out for a bit but it doesn’t last long. My big girls bully the heck out of them, chasing them, pecking and cornering. No blood but feathers do fly occasionally. I rarely intervene because I am trying to let them figure it out. After some time they all find their way back into their small safe space and don’t come out again. Im scared to leave them unsupervised because sometimes they have trouble remembering where the door is. And really I can’t spend the entire day sitting in the chicken run supervising, so I feel like I’m barely making progress. They have a ton of run space here and it’s in an L shape so almost like two separate areas. Im
Just at a loss in how to get them all together. It seems dangerous to just throw them to the wolves at this age. Are they just young? How have others (who don’t free range) handled integrating chicks.
Just at a loss in how to get them all together. It seems dangerous to just throw them to the wolves at this age. Are they just young? How have others (who don’t free range) handled integrating chicks.