Adding to the flock....HELP!!

[captainmommy3]

Okay so i have 3 RIRs that are about 7 months old they are laying well and very sweet and friendly....well that is unless you catch them right before a lay, they can be very crankey. I have 4 new little chicks that are 2 weeks old i plan to try to add them to the flock in about 2 months. I am not fully sure on how to integrate them without too much of a mishap. I dont want any birds left behind. Heres my plan....we have a coop right now comfortably fits about 6-8 full grown chickens, but! we are in the process of building a bigger and better coop which will easily fit 12-15 full grown chickens after adding the 4 new babies we will have 7 chickens total....okay so my plan was to not integrate them until the new coop is done so that the older girls wont have dibs on the territory. Then i planned to maybe take one full grown girl at a time for about a week and give them supervised visits with the little ones, then if that goes well, let them ALL graze together and then put them all in the new coop..... I dont really know if this is good planning or not i need some insight! i have looked up what to do and there are MANY different ideas on how to do this well but i just want what will make all my girls happy. P.S. the new coop is better insulated and will keep them all warmer thats why i wont consider keeping them seperate in their coops because i dont think the old coop will do when winter really hits hard, which isnt until about late dec. or early jan. for us.

 

[Reurra]

What I did, and if you have room, is build an enclosure inside the main coop to let them see but not touch. At that time my girls when out at around 12 weeks old. After 1 month, I let them have 1-2 hours with the big girls, monitored. There was no real aggression, though my lead hen made sure the little girls knew their place. After 2 more weeks of this, I took down the enclosure and let the kids be with the girls full time. They integrated well.

However, I have a GLW roo that they just wont have anything to do with, every chance they get, they try to tear him apart. I keep him in a large wire dog cage, the kind that can fit a great dane. He is in there now, and I think integration will be really slow for him.

 

[captainmommy3]

Well, i don't think i would have an efficient way to divide the coop really i can divide the run but not really the coop and my runs are sooooo close to one another maybe i can build a little tunnel to link them together so that they can visit but are for the most part separated at least for a few weeks... so they can see one another and smell one another without being able to hurt each other.???? i dunno really i just don't want anyone to have to die because of poor planning what happens between them is for the most part unstoppable but i want to make sure i did everything i could to prevent tragedy. any other suggestions?

 

[Reurra]

Some people suggest allowing them to free range together if you can free range them.

Some suggest to making a hole small enough so the little girls can get in without the big girls following.

 

[Y N dottes]

I have two RIRs and like u mentioned, are extremely nice and(unfortunatly for them) are at the bottom of the pecking order in my flock. Even so i think your big girls will show a little aggression at first which is natural. As long as they get a chance to see and know the little ones a bit, it should be fine. I just wouldnt let them be together full time untill the new ones are big enough to hold there own and defend themselves if the need arises.