Best Integration Methods?

[Aunt Angus]

Our original flock is very peaceful but contains no white birds. We tried to integrate 4 white birds and 1 that's ginger and blue. The ginger and blue one has been accepted no problem, even though she's a Silkie. The 4 white (non Silkie) birds are still needing their own separate space after 6 months or they are the recipients of some nasty comb pecking. I'm hoping when we move house and they are in a completely new space everyone just gets over it.

That's interesting! I am new to chickens, but I've read in multiple sources that birds of a similar feather do flock together. I have a white Cochin. She's my only white pullet, but she's fully accepted. I raised them together, though. That must be the difference.

I had hoped to get more pullets come spring and get a variety of colors and types. The more I read, the more I think that may not be such a grand idea...

 

[chicky-little]

I have successfully added 3 groups or 2-3 birds this way. We put the new birds in an extra large dog crate and house them in it for 2 days in one of the corners of the pen. This way everyone can squawk, peck, etc... but no one gets hurt. On the third day we open it up early while everyone is still roosting. We leave the main door wide open so there is a very obvious escape route if needed. There is still some minimal pecking to establish order, but never any real issues. By the third day most of their pecking has subsided and the new additions are old news.
We only do our full intros on weekends when we are home so we can keep an eye on things for the first bit and do frequent check ins.

 

[Tbird84]

Has anyone integrated a rooster into a flock with an existing one?

 

[BReeder!]

See but don't touch didn't exactly work as I desired. I now have two small co-existing flocks it seems. I had 5 chickens we purchased as day old chicks in March. In July (I think) we purchased 2 more chicks. The original 5 developed a pecking order early on and all get along as a flock. The 2 we added later were introduced at 8 weeks old to the flock via a dog kennel placed in the run. They lived in the kennel with a box as a small coop for about a week. Then we would let them out under supervision only for about another week. After that they were put into the coop with the original 5. The youngest 2 are at the bottom of the pecking order. They stick together always, but are not allowed to intermingle much with the others. Our top hen, a very large Cuckoo Marans we named A'hole (pronounced with some Latin flare to prevent my toddler from say "A-hole" to people: ay-hole-ay), enforces the pecking order. Often the younger 2 hens are found sleeping in a nest box simply because they were not allowed on a roost. I'm hoping our new setup with multiple roosts will help with that...

 

[aart]

The youngest 2 are at the bottom of the pecking order. They stick together always, but are not allowed to intermingle much with the others.

Not unusual...the younger birds won't enter the main pecking order until they start laying.
Even then they may stay a 'sub-flock'.

 

[BReeder!]

Not unusual...the younger birds won't enter the main pecking order until they start laying.
Even then they may stay a 'sub-flock'.

We shall see. My Lavender Orp just started laying in the past week. Her buddy is a Blue Silver Laced Orp who should start laying any day now. Maybe they'll manage to climb the pecking order a bit. They are big girls. It's a bit odd to see two Orps get bossed around by my Speckled Sussex and Gold Laced Wyandotte, both of which are smaller than the Orps.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

We now have three sub flocks within one larger flock. Started with 5, 4 mo old pullets and a roo and introduced 30, 1 mo old pullets/cockerels/ducklings/keets in adjoining pen (look don’t touch). After one month, allowed them to mix, removed young cockerels and drakes. I was surprised that even after a month of look and don’t touch, the older birds were pretty mean to the younger, 2 mo old ones. We kept splitting and integrating, with full integration at 3 months old. We just added two more 5 mo old pullets to this group that is now about 7 and 10 months old. Started with one week of “look don’t touch”, then accidentally left a door open and mixed all together. Same older pullets (now 10 mo) that were mean before are still mean to the newer pullets. One new pullet is getting along well, but one is still picked on and hides a lot (many places to get out of sight). Older pullets still only hang out with each other and their roo. Same with each group; they prefer to hang out with their broodmates. We did accidentally integrate a new roo into this mix - the earlier maturing roos weren’t tolerated by the older roo and were removed when they started crowing. One roo (an Ameraucana) from the second group was a very delayed developer and has been tolerated by the older roo.

 

[BReeder!]

them to mix, removed young cockerels and drakes. I was surprised that even after a mont

Interesting that you introduced 30 new to 5 existing. Often it's the other way around. I think I would have just mixed 30 with the 5 without any 'look don't touch' period. Their may be a minimal amount of pecking, but as long as they are at least 8 weeks old they would be able to fend for themselves. 30x 8 week olds and 5 adults... I would put my money on the 30x 8 week olds to keep the 5 adults in check. Only worry would be if the roo is aggressive - that certainly could lead to problems. I would remove him to a look don't touch quarantine and mix his hens with the 30 new in that case. After a week, he would ant all the hens, not just his old ones - hormones...

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Interesting that you introduced 30 new to 5 existing. Often it's the other way around. I think I would have just mixed 30 with the 5 without any 'look don't touch' period. Their may be a minimal amount of pecking, but as long as they are at least 8 weeks old they would be able to fend for themselves. 30x 8 week olds and 5 adults... I would put my money on the 30x 8 week olds to keep the 5 adults in check. Only worry would be if the roo is aggressive - that certainly could lead to problems. I would remove him to a look don't touch quarantine and mix his hens with the 30 new in that case. After a week, he would ant all the hens, not just his old ones - hormones...

We hatched a set of local backyard mixes to start, then wanted some pure bred chickens, ducks and guineas so that’s how we ended up with so many new young birds! The coop and run were split and the older birds had one half and the new, 1 month babies another half. They had the split coop until babies were two months, then we started letting them all out to free range together, then letting them spend more and more time together until there was no separation when babies were 3 months. Soooo, it was a slow 2 month integration. The hens (really just older pullets) were pretty mean and even now, still put the newer pullets, cockerel, ducks and guineas in their place; they were not overwhelmed by all those youngsters! The rooster (older cockerel) mostly just ignored the youngsters until they started laying, but he sometime followed the hens in pecking the younger birds around food or roosting time. I ended up being the roosting referee for awhile, getting older birds on one side and new birds on another, or the older pullets would terrorize the younger. I am back to roost referee since adding the two youngest (5 mo) pullets a few weeks ago.

 

[BReeder!]

We hatched a set of local backyard mixes to start, then wanted some pure bred chickens, ducks and guineas so that’s how we ended up with so many new young birds! The coop and run were split and the older birds had one half and the new, 1 month babies another half. They had the split coop until babies were two months, then we started letting them all out to free range together, then letting them spend more and more time together until there was no separation when babies were 3 months. Soooo, it was a slow 2 month integration. The hens (really just older pullets) were pretty mean and even now, still put the newer pullets, cockerel, ducks and guineas in their place; they were not overwhelmed by all those youngsters! The rooster (older cockerel) mostly just ignored the youngsters until they started laying, but he sometime followed the hens in pecking the younger birds around food or roosting time. I ended up being the roosting referee for awhile, getting older birds on one side and new birds on another, or the older pullets would terrorize the younger. I am back to roost referee since adding the two youngest (5 mo) pullets a few weeks ago.

Do you have a multi level roost or just one level? I have found that my new two level roost is better than my old roost, which was a single 8ft board. The reason is that the higher on the pecking order, the higher on the roost. 1 long roost meant that my two younger hens got kicked off the roost or were stuck at the end near a construction mesh mesh wall that nobody wanted to be by in cold or wet weather. My new roost (in our new coop) is 2 levels with 4 total branches. It's sorta wonky shaped, so here's a pic. I built it to allow for more space in the coop for humans to move around while also providing more roosting options for the birds. The distance form the chicken wire on the left to wall on the right is 4ft. The chickens have only used it since Sunday, but it works well. Our top chicken is a BIG Cuckoo Marans named A'hole due to her attitude. She immediately claimed her spot in the top right looking out over the other hens (we have 7 total right now).