Adding Chickens easier than thought

[Monika S]

I thought adding my 5 girls was gonna end up being horrendous. So far it's not going too badly. Moose (my big Speckled Sussex) is very protective of her flock. When I got my new ones, one of the Speckled Sussex Babies ended up being the mother hen. When I started letting the big ones and the little ones out in to meet in neutral territory, Moose tried to be the boss and Swiper ended up standing up for her flock (the Baby Sussex). Surprise... Moose was scared of Swiper and left the Babies alone. The other two hens could care less! Sooo, fast forward nearly 2 months later and I put the Babies in the big chicken run. There was a little bit of pecking.. mostly when Moose found one of the little ones wondering off from the rest of the flock. Came evening, I put the little ones into the coop with the big ones... the door is open so in the morning they can escape if need be and there are hiding spots for the little ones that the big ones can't get to as well.. but here are all of them together:

 

[luvmypets]

Lovely

 

[Monika S]

I'm happy to report that Moose did not peck anyone bloody in the last two days. I'm proud of my gal! You can see she only tolerates the new-comers but she is not bothering them too bad.. yes there has been some light pecking, but nothing severe. And they even all go into the coop for the night by themselves!! You can see they are still two distinct flocks, but I'm hoping that will change with time. All in all, I'm very happy cause they are not even two months old and already living with the 2 year olds in sort of harmonyt! Yeah!

 

[aldarita]

It makes me feel better after reading your post. I have two generations of chickens, my very first one is 2 years old and the second is 1 year old. They are sort of integrate ad since they free range all day but each group goes into their own coop to roost at night. I can tell the older hens are the "boss" because they peck at the pullets every once in a while, specially when there are treats around. All in all I can say they are integrated. I also have a set of 6 babies who are 13 weeks old. They have shared the coop with the pullets with a partition (following the "rule" of look but don't touch) since they were 6 weeks old. They also have an area where they can roam during the day which is separated from the others with a fence. I am planning to integrate them when they turn 16 weeks old, by then they should be able to start eating layer feed like the others. I am hoping that since they have been seeing each other for several weeks, the integration will go sort of smooth. I know there are going to be some fights but I will be around to watch and separate in case they get too ugly. I shall be lucky to have all my hens integrated pretty soon which will make my life easier with the clean up and feeding.

 

[iawoodchip]

I’m planning on integrating tonight after dark. I’ve had 5- 7 week old Buffs, & copper crested marons in the new house for a couple of weeks now, & 2–14 week old buffs in a 2 place portable coop positioned right next to the pen for the younger birds. Previous meeting were not to favorable, so I don’t know what to expect when they get up in the morning.

 

[Monika S]

I left my coop open for the night, cause I was worried about a blood bath if I didn't, but they get along just fine and started roosting before it gets all the way dark without any problems. The only thing I now have a problem with is that the older hens have taken a liken to the grower feed. At first it looked like they were staying away from the new feeding station, but now they prefer it... hope they're not getting too fat...lol. I do feed the older ones extra calcium (shells) so I think they'll be fine in regard to calcium, but if I understand it right, they can get too fat from the grower feed.