First night together....

[Paigeey]

Question! I have two year old hens, and two 5 month old hens. The younger girls have been cooped with the turkeys because they were hatched around the same time. I want to put the little girls in with the big girls but they get a little bossy. I've ready they need to establish a pecking order then they might pick once in a while. They are able to roam the yard together but don't hang out at all. Should I just put them all in the pen together and see how it goes? Suggestions?

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens. To add chicks to older hens, you need to integrate them slowly. Put the chicks in a cage in run/ coop (with food and water) so the hens can check them out without injuring them. You could also just put up a wire partition separating young from old, in coop and run. This way they can get used to each other and eventually ignore . At that time you can combine them under supervision and see how they manage together. Be sure to have extra food dishes and water out, so the hens don't bully the chicks away from them.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! Drumstick has left you some excellent advice on getting all your girls together. I've used this method and it works well. Here is a lovely article on getting them all together ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/introducing-new-chickens-using-the-see-but-don-t-touch-method

Wishing you the very best of luck with them all. I hope the intergrated goes well.

Enjoy BYC and all the chicken chat

 

[N F C]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

The 'look but don't touch' method worked well for us when we had younger girls to integrate with the older ones. There might still be a bit of harassment happen when you do eventually put them together but as long as serious, bloody injuries don't happen, don't worry, it's normal while they work out a new pecking order.

Good luck, hope you're enjoying your chickens.

Nice to have you here!

 

[Mrsspitz319]

Hi there,

I just integrated some chicks in with the older ones of my flock. I put them in a horse trough inside the hen house, and they are able to fly up and perch on the edge and check things out, as can the older chickens. This leaves some separation, as the older chickens don't want to fly into the trough and the chicks don't want to fly down where the bigger chickens are. They are able to interact still though. I don't have any super aggressive chickens, so that may be why this works for me....but I have had great success.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Definitely use the "see but don't touch" method to introduce them. Start by having them separated by wire or something so they can't reach other but can still see one another. Do this for a couple weeks. Then let them mix. Be sure to provide extra feeders and waterers when they are being interrogated together. Bossy birds will hog feeders and starve the other birds. It will take several weeks for them to be all getting along smoothly. But if you take your time, it will all work out!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

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