Another chick integration post

[TwistedTayy]

I have 9 6 week old chicks that I’m starting to integrate with my flock of 5 6.5 month old hens (and one rooster). The chicks are almost fully feathered but have been outside with heat at night (the temps fluctuate like crazy here). The chicks have been getting pretty aggressive with each other so I felt like they needed a reality check but it’s been cold otherwise I would have started sooner.

The roo has been a jerk but he’s going to a new home next weekend. There’s for sure some new Roos in the chick batch to replace him. But I’m wondering if there is anything I can do to speed up the process. There is no room in the coop to do a look no touch method at night so I’ve got a safety zone in the run and I’ve been putting the babies in the run in the morning and then in the evening, I collect them and put them back in their coop. Then repeat the next day. I figure once they start following the big birds to bed, I’ll stop doing that and just let them stay in the coop.

Probably by the end of the upcoming weekend they won’t be able to fit through the bars to their safety zone. I can readjust it to make it work but obviously it would be better for everyone if they’d all just get along.

What else can I do?

Also side note… technically the coop and run isn’t big enough for all the birds I have when they are older BUT the two d’uccles will be moving coops as I’m separating for a purebred d’uccle coop and the rooster is leaving so it’ll only be the two fayoumi hens that stay as a flock with the chicks. There are some fayoumi babies in there but any of those that wind up being roosters will also be leaving. Also all breeds are on the smaller side (fayoumi, hedemora, Svarthona, and 55 flowery) so the largest will still be less than 6lbs and they usually free range so space is not an issue.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I hate to break it to you, but there is no fast forward button for integration (I wish there was) keep doing what your doing. When you say it's been cold what's cold? I had 6 week old pullets in the coop when it dropped down to 21. Is there absolutely no way to even get a dog crate in the coop so the littles could be in there 24/7?

 

[TwistedTayy]

I hate to break it to you, but there is no fast forward button for integration (I wish there was) keep doing what your doing. When you say it's been cold what's cold? I had 6 week old pullets in the coop when it dropped down to 21. Is there absolutely no way to even get a dog crate in the coop so the littles could be in there 24/7?

No, unfortunately there’s no way not for 9 chicks. I’m planning on selling the coop portion and building a bigger walk in coop but obviously that doesn’t help me now. The current coop doesn’t work for many reasons. It got down to 19 at night last weekend (and was 23 during the day) with snow after a week of mid 70s (can’t count on the weather here in west Georgia except for it to change). So I just didn’t feel good about adding the stress of integration. If it had even been constantly cold, I would have considered it. The temperature yo yo is difficult. Even my ducks were huddling up in their coop during the day trying to keep warm.

The littles are in their own coop (which will eventually become the d’uccle coop) so they are comfortable at night and there is no rush to move them out. The future tenants are still in the bathroom brooder and don’t even have flight feathers. I just feel pressure to have them integrated before they get big enough to be threatening.

The d’uccle coop is actually almost as big but because of the way it was built, it’s actually easier to do integrations so integrating the baby d’uccles (4) with the adult d’uccles (2) will just involve moving the adults into that coop….

It’s the producers pride defender from tsc. Hindsight is 20/20 on prefabs but that was the smart choice for us at the time.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can you get a further back shot of the run? Right now I don't see much clutter, so I'd clutter it up, to break up line of sight around the space: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/ as well as add in extra feeders and waterers spaced apart, to minimize conflict over resources.

 

[TwistedTayy]

Ok so update. The integration set up worked moderately well. We since rehomed the rooster so that left us with 9 babies, an Egyptian Fayoumi hen and two d’uccle hens. The babies are 10 weeks old now and still terrified of the older hens. I kind of have a plan but I’d like back up.

The d’uccles will be moving to a new pen with a new fancy d’uccle rooster. That was always the plan.

That leaves patty in the coop with the babies. She’s a fayoumi, they do NOT do well with confinement. Even before we got those chicks she was grumpy not to be able to free range with a 100sq ft run and living with only 3 small chickens.

My first instinct is to do a look no touch dog crate with her in it. The babies include two Roos and they are starting to figure out how to be Roos. Just need to get their confidence up and patty is hindering that. She would be extremely unhappy with this option.

Another option would be to move patty into the d’uccle coop which is a 4x8 coop/run combo. Better than a dog crate but still small.

I also have a 5x5 pen that we used to house our geese. I am planning on using it to acclimate a new barn cart we are receiving this weekend… but if that doesn’t work out I could outfit it with roosts. It is already inside another building so protected from the weather.

All of these would be temporary situations because I would eventually like to put her back where she is currently. I just think it would be more beneficial and less stressful to give the chicks some time to mature a bit more on their own somehow.

Open to more suggestions too.