Topic of the Week - Integrating Chicks into an Adult Flock

[ChicksnMore]

I incubate most of my eggs but prefer to have a hen raise them. The hen raised chicks seem happier and healthier. So when I start my incubator up each year, I start adding wooden eggs in a nest box. Each month I switch which nest box I'm adding eggs to and one or two more hens go broody. As soon as a hen goes broody, I start adding eggs to the incubator. I have a lot of chickens, so I can have broody birds, eggs for the incubator and eggs for the table.

When my eggs start to hatch, I bring in a hen that's been brooding those wooden eggs for about a month and add her to the brooder. She's always delighted with her instant family and everyone gets such pleasure watching the mom and babies.

They stay inside til the wing feathers come in, then get moved to a 4'x4' pen inside the coop with their hen. After a week, I open the door to the pen and everyone mingles. With a mom, the chicks always do well.

Every so often I'll end up with chicks with no mom and then I use a 4'x4' pen in the coop as a panic room. It's harder on the babies but works well.

If I have to add half grown birds to a flock, I move the entire existing flock to another coop and put the young birds in the coop I just emptied. I give them a few days to get comfy, then start adding the existing flock back starting with the most easy going birds. I add a few birds at a time and by the time I add the most aggressive birds back, the new comers are accepted by them easily. It takes about a week or more, depending on how big the flock is. I watch with each bird added back, and if they're too aggressive, they go back into the temporary coop and a different bird gets to rejoin the main coop.

 

[MingMing376]

I brought chix out for supervised field trips to meet the older girls. Then after the 6/7 week mark I integrated. I find that if you put new girls in coop w the older girls after bedtime they wake up all together w/o issue. Got that tip from my friends elderly mum.

 

[micstrachan]

Well, this just popped up on my home screen, so I haven’t read all the comments. However, I will share my experience.

I have only integrated chicks three times, since I only started six years ago. For the two groups that were hand raised by me, I did the see, no touch method, and let them have lots of time together during free ranging, before putting them all together in the run. It went really well, considering that I supervised all of their time together until I felt comfortable enough to actually have them locked up in a run together.

I did have three that were raised by a broody, and she handled everything. She was amazing! Only one adult looked like she wanted to attack the chicks, and the broody beat the crap out of her.! It was impressive!

 

[calboy147]

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One of the most commonly discussed topics about raising chicks is the best way to transition chicks into an adult flock. So, we’re compiling frequently asked questions and answers into one thread for reference and discussion. Everyone, please tell us your thoughts and practices when it comes to this week’s topic, integrating chicks into an adult flock!

• How old should chicks be when they are integrated into an adult flock?
• Are they too small to be integrated? Do they need to be a similar size to the older chickens?
• What is the best way to introduce chicks to the rest of the flock?
• What / how do you feed a flock of mixed ages after integration?

For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

I have learned the very hard lesson of the viciousness of an otherwise sweet cuddly flock of chickens. No matter at what age i attempt to integrate "chicks', or even "young" juvenile chickens, i MUST leave a way for them to duck and cover. I now have a chicken tunnel that none but my tiny midget hen Freckles can get into. I place it in the covered portion of my run so when under attack all the young chickens can run inside. After about 2 or 3 weeks the flock may still slap them around a bit, but will not mob and kill them.
At this point; after loosing a half dozen chicks over the past 2 years i really do not incubate anymore. I have to add i am now attempting to reduce my flock to 12 particular birds. So as soon as a hen goes broody i stick all that days eggs under her and move the entire nest into the tunnel. Have never lost a baby when any even the lowest hen hatches them out.

 

[calboy147]

I brought chix out for supervised field trips to meet the older girls. Then after the 6/7 week mark I integrated. I find that if you put new girls in coop w the older girls after bedtime they wake up all together w/o issue. Got that tip from my friends elderly mum.

One caution, my wife decided at several weeks to put 6 juveniles in aafter dark. I woke up to 5 dead and one dying.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have learned the very hard lesson of the viciousness of an otherwise sweet cuddly flock of chickens. No matter at what age i attempt to integrate "chicks', or even "young" juvenile chickens, i MUST leave a way for them to duck and cover. I now have a chicken tunnel that none but my tiny midget hen Freckles can get into. I place it in the covered portion of my run so when under attack all the young chickens can run inside. After about 2 or 3 weeks the flock may still slap them around a bit, but will not mob and kill them.
At this point; after loosing a half dozen chicks over the past 2 years i really do not incubate anymore. I have to add i am now attempting to reduce my flock to 12 particular birds. So as soon as a hen goes broody i stick all that days eggs under her and move the entire nest into the tunnel. Have never lost a baby when any even the lowest hen hatches them out.

So your experience has shown letting the hen hatch them and integrate them into the flock works best? The adults are less likely to pick on the babies?

 

[calboy147]

So your experience has shown letting the hen hatch them and integrate them into the flock works best? The adults are less likely to pick on the babies?

I have learned that when a hen hatches them, not only do the rest of thr flock not try to kill them most of the flock including my roosters actully help care for them. I have a huge rooster that wants to fight with me almost continually. I was about to sign him up for camp until i watched him around some week old chicks one of my hens hatched.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

I have learned that when a hen hatches them, not only do the rest of thr flock not try to kill them most of the flock including my roosters actully help care for them. I have a huge rooster that wants to fight with me almost continually. I was about to sign him up for camp until i watched him around some week old chicks one of my hens hatched.

Good to know...I have an incubator full of babies as well as two 6 week olds I'm working in integrating and my girls are being the worst. So building a large secure brooder for inside the run to get them better acquainted rather than just a few hours here and there.when weather and time permit.
It is definitely a process!

 

[Lor]

One caution, my wife decided at several weeks to put 6 juveniles in aafter dark. I woke up to 5 dead and one dying.

That's concerning. I have my chicks in the run and coop but separated still.
I am cluttering the run today and will be letting them out there this weekend to see how things go. Now I worry about putting them on the roost at night.

 

[Appalachian homestead]

Perhaps not 100% helpful to all - but regularly add enough babies and eventually the flock gives you the collective eye roll like "great, again." It's always a bigger deal in a smaller flock to add anything- now in the big flock with regular additions, it's just another day.

This is what I have found as well. We have broody hens occasionally bringing in new chicks to the flock, so when we introduce chicks by themselves , the old hens ignore them. We free range and do tend to lose more to predators of they don't have momma to teach them all the do's and don'ts.