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Thanks for the info.

What is CO and what do you dust them with? I have heard of dusting with DE and I have that but have never actually dusted a chicken, I just mixed it into their dust baths. How do you build a strong immune system in your flock?

Things are going great here in Colorado as far as integration goes. The littles don't fit thru the escapes anymore and the bigs can fit thru when I open them up so I took the fence down today. So far it's going alright. They are staying to their own ends pretty much and there is food and...

So very true, it feels good! The heat finally broke too. No more triple digits since we've had rain the last 2 days and nights and highs in the mid 70's. Feels like paradise and the birds seem happy too. The bigs are hanging mostly under the coop while it's actively raining but the littles are...

Well I have great news!! The escapes are working so well!! The littles can go back and forth with ease and are now safe from the bigs when they get "bossy". The littles are getting more adventurous every day and are now sleeping with the bigs without incident, once they are all inside. As...

So today I set up some escape routes thru the fence for the littles and all seems to be working fine. They are going thru to the bigs side and then running back thru when the bigs get aggressive. We had some old beat up laundry baskets so I turned them upside down, cut holes in one side just big...

That's kind of what I was thinking too. Thanks so much for all your encouragement and help.

Yes their area is actually in the run and I just put a temporary plastic orange construction fence up across the run. My husband and I were actually discussing putting in a few hiding places for them so great minds think alike huh? I can easily cut a few small holes in the bottom of the...

Well that crossed my mind too. I definitely don't want another integration... There's no blood letting as of yet but as soon as she starts I get the littles out of harms way in their own area. I have to re-pot all my house plants today so I will set up to do that next the run so I can watch...

Bedtime went better last night than the night before. The bigs went to bed faster with only 1 BR concerned about the littles. Every time the littles would try and head up the ladder she would chase them right back down. She finally settled in on the top rung of the roost and left them alone...

That's awesome So glad it's going well and here's hoping mine get there soon!

I do have a second food and water station at the opposite end of the run where I keep the littles during the day. When they are mingling the fence is open so they have access to either end.

Good news... I got up and had their door open by 5:15 this morning. The girls didn't start stirring until 5:45 and then it was only the bigs who didn't even seem to notice the littles. The littles wouldn't get off their roost so after about 5 minutes I got each one down and put them on the...

Well this evening I let the littles have the run while the bigs free ranged in the back yard. Then the bigs went back in while I sat in a chair with a squirt bottle. Whenever the bigs went after the littles they got a squirt. It worked really well actually so that's promising. When bed time...

How do they do in the pen during the day? DO you have an issue with them being bullied?

Thanks for the answer. That's what my husband suggested as well so I left them separated while I was at work. I stepped out long enough to feed the dog but that was obviously too long so now I will only do supervised... How big do they need to be before they can defend themselves and be fully...

Quote: It sounds as though integration is going quite well actually. A few pecks here and there is to be expected. The littles must learn their place. The bigs aren't ready to share their roosts yet and that's alright. Keeping the pullets in the crate at night is what's safest for them at...

I would have preferred to integrate earlier but it was still pretty cold as I got them so early in the spring. I have no way to separate the coop inside or provide heat for the littles without over heating the bigs. It's not very large and only has 1 door to the run for them. We are building a...

Quote: HAHA... I actually don't have a chair. I have tires that I buried part of the way for them to get up on and play inside of and I sit on those. The birds love them. They play "Queen of the Hill" on them and then run thru them like an obstacle course . I just wipe them off if they're dirty...