Chicks need help to the coop

[LRH97]

Another thing I forgot to mention, if you can, put out another feeder and waterer. This way it reduces competition and everyone gets to eat and drink. It does take time, but they'll will warm up to each other. Cute Cochin. Sometimes there's that one out of the whole bunch who is just exceptionally sweet.

 

[gaa2970]

Day 7 of carrying the chicks back into the coop. 17/17 Reds have to be carried in and 7/22 Cochins have to be carried in and the other cochins don't come out of the coop cuz they don't get picked on in there. :/

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[gaa2970]

 

[alibabba]

I would do it soon. It will be quite a bit easier with them being so young and not that far apart in age. This is my integration procedure: After quarantine, (I usually buy adult or started birds from other people. If you do this in the future, you'll want to quarantine as well to prevent the spread of any diseases the new birds may have to your flock.) I let all the birds free range together for about a week, depending on how things go. When they're not on free range, the new birds are in a pen alongside the fence to my coop so they are within constant sight of each other. After ranging together and I think all is ready, I slip the new birds into the coop at night. And I mean at night. I usually go out between ten and eleven o'clock at night. The oldies wake up to find the newbies with them and there is some pecking, but usually not too serious. In your situation, nine week old chicks have a pecking order, but they can't really do too much harm. I'd let all of them out together, and after a few days, you'll probably be ready to completely integrate. Good luck, and I'd love to know how it goes. Don't hesitate to ask anymore questions you may have!

Exact same style is working for me too. Lletting everyone free range together, but separate housing/pens.

I open the pens in the am, out they go, the big girls(and new roo) do their routine. The 2 little girls (8-9 weeks) hang nearby the group about 10 to 20 feet away, doing their own thing. Over the past week they get closer together and the new girls check out the feed and water when no one else is there. Everyone has plenty of space so no trouble. Day 1 a 20 oz D'Uccle, pulled 2 feathers off the 8 wk Cochin (who is double her size). That was the end of it.

I was worried the rooster would do something, like attack, try to love em up. But he must be a really good boy, no red comb...not for him. He ignores them completely also.

Once I see em hanging out, I'll just close the little pen, and put them on the roost with the big girls. 2nd time I've done this. With no fuss, no muss at all.

(These are not production breeds though)

EE's, Wyandotte, D'Uccles and the Polish Roo. The 2 babies are Cochin and Australorp.

We embrace diversity around here!

 

[gaa2970]

I had to remove one of the Cochins today because she got picked on so much the back of her head was literally down to the meat.
The Reds are still being mean, the Cochins just stay in the coop all the time. Is it really a good idea to leave them together?
And once again I had to put al the Reds in the coop for the night.

Thinking of getting rid of some reds... I don't think they are true RIR. They have some inconsistency in color in their feathers. They were from Big R. Maybe they are productions reds? Does that make a difference in their temperament?

 

[LRH97]

I had to remove one of the Cochins today because she got picked on so much the back of her head was literally down to the meat.
The Reds are still being mean, the Cochins just stay in the coop all the time. Is it really a good idea to leave them together?
And once again I had to put al the Reds in the coop for the night.

Thinking of getting rid of some reds... I don't think they are true RIR. They have some inconsistency in color in their feathers. They were from Big R. Maybe they are productions reds? Does that make a difference in their temperament?

Sorry that happened to your Cochin. My guess would be she got pecked a little too hard and bled a little, and everyone else started to peck at the blood, making the wound worse. The color red sets chickens off sometimes. They go peck crazy when they see it. Really the earlier the age (as a group) the easier it will be to introduce. If you got the RIRs from a chain store, they are more than likely Production Reds (I call them store-bought RIR). True, heritage RIR can be difficult to come by. In my experience, Production RIR can be a little on the aggressive side. Especially roos. 3 out of 5 nasty roos I've had have been RIRs that I bought from Rural King. I say dress the wound, make sure your Cochin girl is all in her sorts and continue. Some things just take some time and there may be some obstacles on the way, but don't lose your confidence. Let us know if it happens again (hopefully it doesn't!).

 

[alibabba]

The cochins found the shade and the water bucket right away. The reds are kinda segregating themselves.
I'm sitting in the shade enjoying my tea and watching them interact. Lol

Chicken TV!

 

[alibabba]

Sorry that happened to your Cochin. My guess would be she got pecked a little too hard and bled a little, and everyone else started to peck at the blood, making the wound worse. The color red sets chickens off sometimes. They go peck crazy when they see it. Really the earlier the age (as a group) the easier it will be to introduce. If you got the RIRs from a chain store, they are more than likely Production Reds (I call them store-bought RIR). True, heritage RIR can be difficult to come by. In my experience, Production RIR can be a little on the aggressive side. Especially roos. 3 out of 5 nasty roos I've had have been RIRs that I bought from Rural King. I say dress the wound, make sure your Cochin girl is all in her sorts and continue. Some things just take some time and there may be some obstacles on the way, but don't lose your confidence. Let us know if it happens again (hopefully it doesn't!).

hopefully all will be well, i have a very gentle group. they free range and even the 1/3 size bantams are never abused. At the worst it was "air pecks".

After everything I read here, I wouldn't pick up production breeds, but there are plenty of people who have serious layers for serious business who like them. They def have their place, maybe find them a spot where they are a good fit, and you can fill the coop with gentle breeds.\

ETA: I got a couple heritage RIR's from a show breeder (these were pet quality, sure) They integrated with the flock, no bullying, pretty sweet and one went broody first year.

 

[gaa2970]

Sorry that happened to your Cochin. My guess would be she got pecked a little too hard and bled a little, and everyone else started to peck at the blood, making the wound worse. The color red sets chickens off sometimes. They go peck crazy when they see it. Really the earlier the age (as a group) the easier it will be to introduce. If you got the RIRs from a chain store, they are more than likely Production Reds (I call them store-bought RIR). True, heritage RIR can be difficult to come by. In my experience, Production RIR can be a little on the aggressive side. Especially roos. 3 out of 5 nasty roos I've had have been RIRs that I bought from Rural King. I say dress the wound, make sure your Cochin girl is all in her sorts and continue. Some things just take some time and there may be some obstacles on the way, but don't lose your confidence. Let us know if it happens again (hopefully it doesn't!).

Thank you for the encouragement but today was actually a really good day for us!

The Reds are all supposed to be pullets so hopefully I don't have any roosters! My cochins are all pullets from Ideal Poultry. I have an adult barred rock rooster and an adult RIR rooster I'm seriously thinking about making Sunday dinner since I put the chicks outside. THEY DRIVE ME NUTS!! They crow all day long! And I work from home so sometimes customers ask me, "was that a rooster?". Lol
I had two reds that keep flying onto the door which is made out of a wood pallet so i figured they want to roost (the rest still sleep in the corner on the floor) so I put them on the top rung of a roost in the coop and 4 of them ended up staying up there. and two more reds on another rung. All but 5 of the Red chicks made it into the coop on their own (the Cochin all did) and I put the others in before the sun was completely down and they stayed! I was pretty excited about that. lol
My little blond Cochin didn't just get pecked, she had an open wound bigger than a nickel but smaller than a quarter. I'm sure it happened just how you said and they let her have it. I'm going to be more careful now to clean them up as soon as I see any kind of a wound to avoid that from happening again. I'm lucky I work at home cuz i can check on them thought the day and the coop is in a place I can see it from my window. I actually get to watch them all day.

I did dress it because I had a rooster once that had it's neck mauled by a dog but the rooster made it. And I had cleaned the wound and thought the rooster was good until a few days later it's head started drooping and he wouldn't keep it up for long periods of time so I thought I may have missed something. So I checked him out again and the reason he couldn't hold his head up anymore was because fly maggots were literally eating all his meat. We had to put him down.

My little Cochin is in with chicks that are younger than she is so they don't pick on her.

Now my new question is, once they get used to going back to sleep in the coop, how long do I keep that up before I let them free range?
Thank you so much for such an invaluable education. No advise is better than that which has been tried and proven.

 

[gaa2970]

hopefully all will be well, i have a very gentle group. they free range and even the 1/3 size bantams are never abused. At the worst it was "air pecks".

After everything I read here, I wouldn't pick up production breeds, but there are plenty of people who have serious layers for serious business who like them. They def have their place, maybe find them a spot where they are a good fit, and you can fill the coop with gentle breeds.\

ETA: I got a couple heritage RIR's from a show breeder (these were pet quality, sure) They integrated with the flock, no bullying, pretty sweet and one went broody first year.

That is awesome yours get along so well! I never intended to have the Reds. My husband though he would surprise me by showing up with 18 chicks. lol He didn't know I had 26 on order from Ideal Poultry. The I got 21 more of 7 different breeds but those aren't ready to be in the coop yet as they are still in the brooder. I think i might just keep a few Reds that show not to be as aggressive and sell off the rest.
I would love to keep some show quality RIR. Maybe I can check out my county fair next year.