Can I add the 2 flocks together now??

[sab]

2 birds are 15 weeks old. 3 birds are a year+. Are the younger ones old enough to put in with the 3 other ones?? They free-range together and the older ones chase the younger ones but everyone seems to be 'safe'. No real aggression taking place. The 2 younger ones know how to skittle. The 3 older ones just went into their new coop - been 3 days in a new big coop and run. I am thinking I will sneak the younger ones in to the coop tonight and place them on the roost below the older 3. Plan? Or wait a bit longer????
THANKS!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

If they are free ranging together then they have seen one another enough I think to try it out but watch for aggressive pecking and if it gets to bad remove the old ones and put them into a cage for a few hours...if they peck again do the same thing again. They will eventually get the hint...at least mine did. There will obviously be pecking order pecks but should be no blood shed. Good luck! IF they do draw blood be sure to remove FAST.

 

[chi-rn]

Once my 12-weekers free-ranged with the adults for 2 weeks & only experienced pecking order with no visible injuries, I then put them into the bigger coop under cover of darkness (using a red light). Juveniles roost on floor at opposite end of adults, but no problems other than squawking as they enter the coop in the evenings. They still tend to group together in original flocks when they range & adults still at top of pecking order... but, I think that's fair!

 

[sab]

So you are saying not to put them on the roost but on the floor opposite the hens on roost? Oh - that brings up what the pekin duck will do to them? She's on the floor. She's part of that formed flock of 3 - which is really 4. Um..... That's a different dynamic than I had considered.