11 week old pullets

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Shen11 said:
Hi everyone. Due to life, timing, availability, and one of our elderly hens dying in the heat wave, we are now at day 1 in the process of introducing two 11 week marans to our two 6 year old barred rocks, and I have just a few questions. We have the run split in half with wire gates. The marans have water, grower feed, and a cat carrier of straw to hide in, while the barred rocks have their normal set up and access to the coop. Is that sufficient? I tried adding photos.
I know we ideally want to keep them seperate for a week, but where do the little ones sleep? Should we leave them out in the run, or put them in the cat carrier inside the coop? I've seen others suggest roosting them while the other hens are asleep, but they seem small for that. Its not possible to split up the roost. Any advice is appreciated! So far the barred rocks seem offended by them, and the marans are super calm.
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Welcome!
The cat carrier isn't a great hiding place unless there's an escape route built in. At least for the first couple of weeks, the youngsters need hiding places with "back doors" so the bigger ladies can't trap them. If you provide multiple hidey holes, hide-behinds and roosts at different heights (indoors and out,) they should all adjust, in time.
 
Shen11 said:
Thank you! I've always used the advice from the library here, and really appreciate the community for little milestones like our first new hen integration!
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If you don't have enough room in the coop for hiding places/places to duck under right now, the carrier will work for a see no touch time.

Another thought, in a couple/few days, can you securely tape cardboard to the front of the carrier, with the door open? It would need to be short enough for the chicks to enter and the hens Not to be able to enter. It Must be Secure as you would not want the chicks/pullets trapped inside with a hen at the door. Not sure if this idea would work. Just trying to brainstorm, incase you do not have room in the coop for hiding places.

If not, after several days of see no touch, let them free range together where the young ones can escape. You may need to show them getting back to the coop. Usually they won't travel too far from the coop/carrier, which is their security now.

If this is a bad idea, I'm sure others will correct me and I will learn more.
 
MROO said:
Welcome!
The cat carrier isn't a great hiding place unless there's an escape route built in. At least for the first couple of weeks, the youngsters need hiding places with "back doors" so the bigger ladies can't trap them. If you provide multiple hidey holes, hide-behinds and roosts at different heights (indoors and out,) they should all adjust, in time.
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They only have the carrier in their own private space for now. They'll free range together and should have enough space to escape otherwise and hide otherwise
C Siena said:
If you don't have enough room in the coop for hiding places/places to duck under right now, the carrier will work for a see no touch time.

Another thought, in a couple/few days, can you securely tape cardboard to the front of the carrier, with the door open? It would need to be short enough for the chicks to enter and the hens Not to be able to enter. It Must be Secure as you would not want the chicks/pullets trapped inside with a hen at the door. Not sure if this idea would work. Just trying to brainstorm, incase you do not have room in the coop for hiding places.

If not, after several days of see no touch, let them free range together where the young ones can escape. You may need to show them getting back to the coop. Usually they won't travel too far from the coop/carrier, which is their security now.

If this is a bad idea, I'm sure others will correct me and I will learn more.
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That seems to be in line with our approach. We took the door off of the carrier to make things easier, the cardboard makes sense for giving them extra cover. I think we'll wait a day or two to free range just so they know where home is, but given how smoothly everything is going with see no touch, im feeling pretty confident! Im glad the barred rocks are the resident birds. I think the red stars would have been a lot less amicable.
 

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