existing flock and the new babies? how to?

[newchik715]

So when the time comes how do i introduce the young to the old? how old should the babies be before they can go out into the coop? will the old flock kill the new babies like they did a grown bird this year that was sick? did they kill her bc she was sick? will four year old birds vs. four babies/juveniles be a fair fight? do i put the babies out every day so the older birds get used to them? help i am clearly clueless!

 

[Liamm_1]

I have 5 26-week olds, and 12 12-week olds. I put the younger ones in the coop at 5-6 weeks, divided by a wire barrier, so they can all get used to each other.
The younger ones have access to their part of the coop and a covered run all day. the older ones are out free ranging in the yard all day with access to the coop and nest boxes, but they only go in there to lay, until night time when they all go inside.
I let the younger ones out to free range now as much as I can, as long as I can be outside to supervise. A couple of the older pullets will try to attack the younger ones if I am not there to intervene. And my 2 older roos would LOVE for me to turn my back so they can mate with all the younger ones (they have tried). Even though the younger pullets are now the same size or bigger as the older pullets. I'm going to wait until they are 16 weeks (another month), before I let them fully integrate. 16 weeks is something I've read here on BYC quite a few times.