Would appreciate help integrating 4.5 week chicks with 2YO flock

[3KillerBs]

I don't have access to photos right now since I'm in the breakroom at work waiting to clock in, but one of the things I do is to lean pieces of scrap plywood, metal roofing, etc. up against the walls to give the chicks some escape tunnels.

They can be wonderfully clever about finding hiding spots.

I've even seen chicks using the roosters or the calmer hens as picks. I've seen them run right underneath Ludwig (who was wonderful with chicks), and before I had roosters I saw a 6-week-old who was being pursued by a 4-month-old dash past the Brahma girl, who gave the youngster a perfunctory peck in passing before turning her full attention onto the 4-month-old who had entered her space so disrespectfully.

So far, at least, I find that other than the designated safe space, I don't have to set up solid refuges, just visual breaks or obstacles that will interrupt the pursuit. Things like a pallet stood on edge where the little chicks can slip between the slats while the adults have to go up and over or around -- which they usually don't.

 

[NightingaleJen]

Wanted to update! My husband also came down with the flu, though happily not as badly. A little surprising since I catch everything there is to catch and he never gets sick! ;D

So we began by opening the spaces between the bales for an hour or so a couple of times a day. Sometimes the grown birds rolled in, sometimes they didn't, sometimes a couple of them stared down in shock and awe from a nestbox above the chick mayhem. This was actually a really good way to start, since we only had to keep an eye on two or three hens at a time.

Friday, about an hour before the flock typically goes to roost, we opened the bales to let the peeps out, figuring everyone would wander in (God willing more tired than we were, ha) and see the peeps beak-to-beak that way. (The peeps tend to be active for at least half an hour or more after the grown birds have gone to roost.) Of *course* the flock decided this would be a good night to come in later than usual. Chickens!

Regardless, it went well. Mostly the established flock seemed to widen their eyes before meandering back up their fancy new ladder to the roost. This included our roo, Strawberry, who barely gave the peeps racing toward him a sidelong glance. The chicks do have a tendency to charge some of the girls, who back up and away as quickly as possible. This is not behaviour I quite understand but it is funny, and no one gets hurt.

Since Saturday morning—we put an old puppy crate with food, water, and the door propped open to chick size in the run—the bales have been open so the chicks can go in and out of the brooder area at will. There have been a few pecks from the larger birds (I don't like small things charging at me, either), but for the majority of the time, the hens ignore the chicks or just sit and watch them.

The chicks have ventured out of the coop into the run, and of course it took a while to help them figure out how to climb up the (new and improved) ramp into the coop. They've not yet gone far into the main coop (there's a sort of "landing zone" in the original run with a chicken-sized portal into the current run), but have enjoyed being outdoors, I think. They spend more time jammed onto the pop door, staring out, than they do outside, but the option is there, and the run has various obstacles for them once they arrive. Bebe Glazer, one of our EEs, appears to have good den mother qualities, seeming as she does to keep a closer eye on the peeps; she also seems to be willing to run interference for them with the other hens.

So that has been our experience thus far. Perhaps it can encourage/help someone else. Thank you all for *your* suggestions and encouragement for me! I really appreciate it. Being sick and needing to push this along made it seem even more unnerving than it would have to begin with, this being the first time I've integrated chicks with an established flock. Thank you very much!

 

[3KillerBs]

Wanted to update! My husband also came down with the flu, though happily not as badly. A little surprising since I catch everything there is to catch and he never gets sick! ;D

So we began by opening the spaces between the bales for an hour or so a couple of times a day. Sometimes the grown birds rolled in, sometimes they didn't, sometimes a couple of them stared down in shock and awe from a nestbox above the chick mayhem. This was actually a really good way to start, since we only had to keep an eye on two or three hens at a time.

Friday, about an hour before the flock typically goes to roost, we opened the bales to let the peeps out, figuring everyone would wander in (God willing more tired than we were, ha) and see the peeps beak-to-beak that way. (The peeps tend to be active for at least half an hour or more after the grown birds have gone to roost.) Of *course* the flock decided this would be a good night to come in later than usual. Chickens!

Regardless, it went well. Mostly the established flock seemed to widen their eyes before meandering back up their fancy new ladder to the roost. This included our roo, Strawberry, who barely gave the peeps racing toward him a sidelong glance. The chicks do have a tendency to charge some of the girls, who back up and away as quickly as possible. This is not behaviour I quite understand but it is funny, and no one gets hurt.

Since Saturday morning—we put an old puppy crate with food, water, and the door propped open to chick size in the run—the bales have been open so the chicks can go in and out of the brooder area at will. There have been a few pecks from the larger birds (I don't like small things charging at me, either), but for the majority of the time, the hens ignore the chicks or just sit and watch them.

The chicks have ventured out of the coop into the run, and of course it took a while to help them figure out how to climb up the (new and improved) ramp into the coop. They've not yet gone far into the main coop (there's a sort of "landing zone" in the original run with a chicken-sized portal into the current run), but have enjoyed being outdoors, I think. They spend more time jammed onto the pop door, staring out, than they do outside, but the option is there, and the run has various obstacles for them once they arrive. Bebe Glazer, one of our EEs, appears to have good den mother qualities, seeming as she does to keep a closer eye on the peeps; she also seems to be willing to run interference for them with the other hens.

So that has been our experience thus far. Perhaps it can encourage/help someone else. Thank you all for *your* suggestions and encouragement for me! I really appreciate it. Being sick and needing to push this along made it seem even more unnerving than it would have to begin with, this being the first time I've integrated chicks with an established flock. Thank you very much!

Glad to hear that it's gone so well.