Broody Orpington and,.. (now changed to flock integration)...

[tri-5-ron]

Quote:
If it's the black plastic tubs your asking about, they are 12" wide x 18" long x 7" tall. I got them at Lowe's Hardware/Home Improvement stores. They have been pretty nice, easy to clean ,and change out the pine shavings when necessary.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

as far as today's "Flock Integration" goes,... I won't necessarily say it was a huge success, but I won't say it was a miserable failure either.
I put the 3 month old chicks in the yard first, and they basically were freaked out at the new environment, and just stood there like statue's for about 30 minutes without moving one step. (Kind of funny actually). But we have to keep in mind,... their entire world, for the past 3 months, has been a plywood box 2' x 4' x 18"tall, covered in chicken wire, and inside my daughters room.
To be moved from that, to the "Great Outdoors", is surely a little overwhelming !

They basically stayed under the kids trampoline, and stayed together...

Next we brought the older girls out of the run, and into the yard. They were thinking they had just hit the lottery, and didn't much care about anything other than it was the biggest "Treats Farm" that they had ever had laid out before them. They were also a little overwhelmed, and didn't pay much attention to the younger birds.
As they moved around the yard, they occaisionally would bump into the youngsters under the trampoline, and did do a little picking/pecking, but I would just run them off.

Next came the dogs, and all went pretty well there, as long as I maintained the Alpha male position, and stopped them from chasing the birds any around the yard. It took a little work, but then considering i'm trying to overcome the instincts of 2 Bird hunting dogs, it did'nt go too badly...

So now it's nearing sundown, and I guess my question is,
Should I go ahead and return them ALL back to the Coop/run, and let them work it out?,
or should I kep the chicks in my daughters room tonight, and do this again tommorow?


Basically Today, the older birds left the younger ones alone,
but,...
they never really mingled that much either.
The older birds cruised the yard eating at the weeds, and the younger birds kept pretty much to themselfs doing the same thing.

So what say you, oh wise ones ??? how do you think I should let this play out tonight ?

(on edit here),.
I guess I'm making a "Semi-Command Decision" now.
It's dark now, and generally the older girls roost to sleep immediately.
I've decided to close them all into the dark coop, Youngsters included, and just listen for any comotion going on.
I realy don't expect to hear anything coming out of there tonight, due to the older girls should head "Straight to bed"
The younger birds are on the oppisite end of the upper roosts, and have never spent a night in the dark. This should keep them on that side or the roost, and we'll just see how it goes.
I'll make a few checks throughout the night, but basically they are going to be on their own.

What do you guys think will happen in the morning after the sun comes up?
Especially if we havent gone out to open the coop yet?

 

[PatS]

Others have said that the best way to introduce them as at night. That way they all wake up in the morning and figure everything is as it should be in the world. Personally, I would open up pretty early to make sure. Things will be a little noisier as they start settling in to bed together at night, because the older girls will all want to make sure the younger girls realize who is in charge. But it should be okay...

 

[tigercreek]

I'm thinking you will not have much trouble, they'll get it sorted out like chickens do. The only problem I can forsee is if my hens see this post!

. .............stan

 

[tri-5-ron]

First let me say,
that I didn't mean to make it confusing when following this thread.
I had completely forgotton that I had started another thread reguarding the original attempt at integrating the chicks, when "Goldie" had first gone broody.
If I had remembered the OTHER thread,... I would have started yesterdays "Updates" on it, instead of this thread.
But, to try any maintain some sort of current continuity, I will stick with THIS thread now.


SOooo,...
On to todays "events".
The whole "lets get chickens" thing, was started as a project as BOTH a way for me to enjoy one of the things I did as a kid,...
but ALSO,...
as a way for my "City born" kids, (mostly my daughter), to have some exposure to animal husbandry, beyond just, "Did you feed the dogs yet ?" , or, " go clean up the dog poop in the yard".
(my 12 y.o. son, has Down Syndrome, and is a little aprehencious (sp?), about being around the chickens).
He does fine with them inside their coop/run,
He will "Help" when we gather the eggs from the outside nest box door,
but he is not too comfortable going inside run/coop, and having them running around him. He gets a little spooked by it.

Anyway,.... As I woke up this morning, I could hear my daughter in her room, and I called to her to ask if she had gone outside to let the chickens out of the coop.
she said, Yes, and that she had brought the 2 "babies" back into her room !
I asked if they were getting pecked at in the coop this morning?,
Her reply- "no, I just wnted to make sure they were safe". (Ahh,... the brilliant reasoning of a 9 year old)

I told her to immediately return those 2 "babies" to the coop.
I heard some comotion, and she comes to tell me the babies were getting pecked now.

So I guess we are back to square one for the day, and will have to do the whole thing of the "Free Ranging" in the back yard again today.

I told her to go get the chicks from the coop, put them in the yard, and then bring the older chickens to the yard. Now we would have to start all over again today, and monitor their progress, and that the whole purpose of yesterdays events was so that the chickens could ALL wake up together this morning, and do what chickens do... now we would be starting over with that.
I had to get up, and get dressed to help her, otherwise, we would have had chickens going every which way,...

, and that would not have been good either.

Ok,...enough of my rant,
I'm going to get some coffee now.
The birds are all free ranging,
the dogs are deciding if they are going to have chicken for breakfast,
and the kids are saying they are hungry, and want me to cook them something.

Maybe I should just cook up the kids themselfs, and I could eat THEM for breakfast !

 

[ND]

Here's my two cents... or a buck fifty, keep the change...

The younger birds ARE going to get pecked and chased. You're not going to avoid it. It won't matter how you integrate them, they'll be put in their place by the older birds. It seems that usually, the ones in the lower pecking order in the established flock are often the meaner ones... they finally have someone beneath them and they want to keep it that way!

IMO, as long as there is no blood drawn, it seems best to interfere as little as possible. The more you interfere, the longer it seems to go on. They may get after them pretty good, peck them hard...even repeatedly... chase them a bit. But, if no one is drawing blood, just let them be.

I integrated eight 7 to 8 week old birds into a flock of 13 older birds about two months ago. They did have a smaller grow out pen located inside the larger run where the birds could see each other, but not really touch each other...but I really don't think that made the integration all that easier. When I first turned them loose, a few of my older birds really took pleasure in harassing the younger ones. The first day was definitely the worst. I think they were chased or pecked far more than they weren't. BUT, none were getting seriously hurt...no blood drawn... just a bit terrorized.

I did create small escapes in the run and coop... places where they could hide/run under where they wouldn't get trapped or cornered, but it slowed down the pursuit and often times, the older birds couldn't be bothered by ducking under something to continue the chasing. I made sure there was an extra feeder, both far enough apart that they could eat if chased from one. I also threw out lots more extra 'treats' that would keep them busier for awhile... things they'd have to work on... bones with meat or one time, I had a few large pork chops that I gave them... whole...and they had to work at shredding. Gave them more to think about and focus on than JUST chasing the babies.

3 days, progressively getting better, was the worst of it. No blood was ever drawn, no one hurt...just normal chicken terrorizing. The young ones are still at the bottom of the pecking order, will still randomly get pecked once if they step out of line, but for the most part, all is calm.


It's a process they have to go through...establishing pecking order...and the older ones will make sure the younger ones fear them... but unless there is blood drawn or any other serious injuries happening, it's best to just let them sort it out without interfering. Keep an eye on them...but try to let them do their thing even if it seems a bit brutal and mean. (again, blood drawn requires intervention, but only something like that or as serious as that. Otherwise, really... it's best to let them sort it out. It WILL happen faster with the least intervention necessary)

 

[tri-5-ron]

ND,
Thanks for the input, and I'm in full agreement with you.

I think I'm just going to treat it like dealing with the kids...
When they get into a fight, they can work it out themselfs,...
(as long as no blood is drawn).

 

[they'reHISchickens]

Expect that there will be 2 separate "flocks" until at least the young ones start laying, and perhaps even longer. Even when we had a broody always remain with her flock to raise the peeps, the peeps kept themselves separated for almost a year. The young ones kept their distance even tho they were in the same coop.
Just wanted you to realize this can happen, and it's ok, just so no one is bleeding. Eventually they will be one big happy family....eventually.

 

[dldolan]

Ditto! Coop looks great! Cochin #1 I let hatch 4 babies, which prompted Cochin #2 to promptly go broody. I tossed her off the nest once a day (min) so she'd eat and drink. No sign of giving up yet...

I like the neutral zone idea! Keep posting so we hear how it went...