Dust bathing in the nesting boxes UGH

[Leghornmomma]

It's been almost year now with my original flock of 10 birds.. I recently got 10 more... they were 16 weeks old when I purchased them... the "babies" won't leave the hen house and go into the run with the older chickens.. I did have the older chickens out to free range for a few hours and left the "babies" explore the run while the older ones weren't in there... when I left the older ones back in they seemed fine but the babies quickly went back inside the hen house.. it'll soon be a week and I have never seen the babies in the run yet besides yesterday when the older ones weren't in there.. I can't really close the hen house door because my older hens lay all different hours during the day. Any suggestions on how to get the babies out of the hen house during the day? I tried treats they just have no interest!

 

[nuthatched]

How high are the boxes? What's the bedding?

 

[aart]

It's been almost year now with my original flock of 10 birds.. I recently got 10 more... they were 16 weeks old when I purchased them

How did you integrate the new birds?

 

[Leghornmomma]

How high are the boxes? What's the bedding?

They aren't floor level but they have to hop into them.

 

[Leghornmomma]

It's been almost year now with my original flock of 10 birds.. I recently got 10 more... they were 16 weeks old when I purchased them... the "babies" won't leave the hen house and go into the run with the older chickens.. I did have the older chickens out to free range for a few hours and left the "babies" explore the run while the older ones weren't in there... when I left the older ones back in they seemed fine but the babies quickly went back inside the hen house.. it'll soon be a week and I have never seen the babies in the run yet besides yesterday when the older ones weren't in there.. I can't really close the hen house door because my older hens lay all different hours during the day. Any suggestions on how to get the babies out of the hen house during the day? I tried treats they just have no interest!

I forgot to add in my post... they are dusting bathing in the nesting boxes because they refuse to leave the hen house and go into the run with the older chickens. They are breaking eggs ugh lol

 

[Leghornmomma]

How did you integrate the new birds?

I put everyone in the hen house at night while they were sleeping. It went okay. But they are still scared to go down below with the other chickens... they don't seem to mind the older ones when they come in to lay eggs. No real fighting just your typical pecking trying to sort thru the pecking order I'm sure.

 

[Leghornmomma]

How high are the boxes? What's the bedding?

Not high but still have to hop into them.. the nesting box have shavings in them and the floor of the coop has shavings

 

[nuthatched]

I put everyone in the hen house at night while they were sleeping. It went okay. But they are still scared to go down below with the other chickens... they don't seem to mind the older ones when they come in to lay eggs. No real fighting just your typical pecking trying to sort thru the pecking order I'm sure.

It will take time for them to get used to each other.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So you have a flock of mature chickens and are integrating some immature chickens. I assume they are all female. You have had them a week. You occasionally let the older ones out to free range. None are getting attacked or hurt. What you describe sounds perfectly normal. Life is good. Since none are getting hurt I think things are going great.

With my flock the immature chickens form a sub-flock until they start to lay. They soon learn that if they invade the personal space of a mature hen they are likely to get pecked. It doesn't take them long to learn to avoid the adults.

I don't know how big your run is or how many total chickens you have. It sounds like the chicks cannot avoid the adults and stay in the run with them so they are staying in the coop out of the way. A hen going in to lay an egg and leaving the chicks alone also sounds totally normal. That's what mine do.

When your pullets start to lay you will see them mingling a lot more with the others. They may still spend most of their time separate with their buddies but they can eat together, sleep together, and lay together without getting beat up. Until then, as long as no one is getting injured, I think you are doing great.

 

[Leghornmomma]

So you have a flock of mature chickens and are integrating some immature chickens. I assume they are all female. You have had them a week. You occasionally let the older ones out to free range. None are getting attacked or hurt. What you describe sounds perfectly normal. Life is good. Since none are getting hurt I think things are going great.

With my flock the immature chickens form a sub-flock until they start to lay. They soon learn that if they invade the personal space of a mature hen they are likely to get pecked. It doesn't take them long to learn to avoid the adults.

I don't know how big your run is or how many total chickens you have. It sounds like the chicks cannot avoid the adults and stay in the run with them so they are staying in the coop out of the way. A hen going in to lay an egg and leaving the chicks alone also sounds totally normal. That's what mine do.

When your pullets start to lay you will see them mingling a lot more with the others. They may still spend most of their time separate with their buddies but they can eat together, sleep together, and lay together without getting beat up. Until then, as long as no one is getting injured, I think you are doing great.

Thank you for the great reply! the younger ladies are doing so good the past few days. They now come down out of the hen house to eat and drink and scartch around with the rest of the flock. They are still staying away from the older ones but everyone is still getting along nicely. I have 20 chickens. 10 are new and 10 are the older ones. I'm not exactly sure how big my run is but it's pretty big they are able to get away from the older ones and have their own space in the run if needed.