Chicky Chickies

[irishtwinmom2]

Hello,

I am a new member of BYC. As we were reading and learning about chickens my husband and I quickly noticed this website as a great source for information. Now that we have our 1st chickies I decided to join! Already so grateful for this site!

So we got 13 chickies total.
8 of them are 6 weeks old: 4 Buff Orphingtons, and 4 Silver Wynadottes.
We also got 5 Easter Eggers. They are 4 weeks old.

I have a question. We are trying to finish our coop around rain we have been getting but,in the mean time our babies are still in the house.. I have to say I love these littles.. but they are getting too big to be in this house lol

Now we introduced them to each other outside last week on a sunny day.. this went really really well. They came out of the totes we carried them out in on their own and said "Hi" to each other. Everyone was nice, and all was well.

Thennn we brought them in and made our older chickens brooder bigger.. to accommodate all the chickies. Since they had gotten along so well outside we thought they could share a brooder now....
Putting them together did not work so well. The bigger littles were pecking at the smaller littles and bullying them it seemed. We let them try to figure it out for a few hours, but separated them again in the end. One of the bigger ones held the smaller ones up against a wall with her body. Couldn't really figure out what was going on with them, never having had chickens before and being unsure of their behavior patterns.

So now I am hoping our coop can get finished this weekend and they can move into their own house

, but I am not sure how to help them live together nicely.

They are sweeties and I want them to get along. If I should post this somewhere else let me know and help would be great
Thanks!.

 

[irishtwinmom2]

Whoops, I ment "any" help would be great, not "and"

 

[drumstick diva]

Putting them outside was probably neutral territory to both groups and they were distracted by the scenery. Putting them all in one brooder- the older residents don't want younger chicks butting in. Bullying and feather plucking and sometimes worse is what happens. New & old have to be integrated with care so no one get injured. The best way to do so is following the "Look but, don't touch" method of integration. You can find that via the search box. Your older chicks may have already determined pecking order in their group, putting another group in with them - means the pecking order has to be reestablished and the littles may end up at the bottom.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and

- glad that you have joined us and congrats on your flock. DD is quite right about looking into methods of integration. Here are some links that may help, including the one that DD mentions.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1015820/reintegration-by-supervised-visits#post_15742910

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

I'm sure that after you have read them, you will be able to develop a strategy that will suit you.

All the best
CT

 

[irishtwinmom2]

Thanks! I will check out the links.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!