Flock housing arrangement

[SelfSufficientMe]

I have four hens that are a little over a year old. One of them hatched some chicks, now 9 weeks old. The two chicks we kept shares housing with the hens as a natural result of raising them together.

I also have six 13 week old pullets that I’ve had since they were 3 days old. They started out in their own coop and run because they were small and were not ready for the big girls. They’ve cohabitated with the hens from about three weeks. They started getting out of their enclosure and I let them integrate. The issue is that they keep going into their own coop at night instead of the larger coop with the other girls.

Should I just remove their coop or will they eventually decide to move into the big coop? I have no problem removing the small one. They’ve outgrown it and the ventilation sucks. I’ve always means to use a hole saw but I keep hoping they move out

Thanks for any advice/suggestions.

 

[JedJackson]

You can remove the other coop at any time, but on the evening of the first day you may need to put them up on the roosts of the main coop until they get the idea. It will probably take some time for them to adjust.

 

[SelfSufficientMe]

You can remove the other coop at any time, but on the evening of the first day you may need to put them up on the roosts of the main coop until they get the idea. It will probably take some time for them to adjust.

Thank you. I’ll start them off in the bigger coop tomorrow. I feel like I have two separate flocks tolerating each other. It’s strange to me since they’ve been together for the past 10 weeks.

 

[JedJackson]

Thank you. I’ll start them off in the bigger coop tomorrow. I feel like I have two separate flocks tolerating each other. It’s strange to me since they’ve been together for the past 10 weeks.

You're welcome. You've done well with how you introduced the two flocks so I think things should go smoothly for the transition.

 

[aart]

It’s strange to me since they’ve been together for the past 10 weeks.

They may not become a cohesive flock until all the younger ones are laying.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure how big your main coop is or how it is laid out inside. I'm thinking roost area but also the layout in general. I think you are in a really good place to make this work provided the coop is OK. They have roamed together outside for a few weeks, that makes a lot of difference.

The way I'd go about it would be to wait until dark, then move the juveniles to the main coop and lock them in there overnight. Some people put them on the roosts, I just toss them onto the coop floor. They will figure out where to sleep and it may not be the roosts. What I want is for them to sleep in that coop, I don't care where as long as it is predator safe and not in the nests. I'd be out there at daybreak to see how it is going and let them out for the day. When I go down the juveniles are typically on the roost while the adults are on the coop floor. It is peaceful because they are separated by that vertical space.

I'd lock their old coop so they can't get back in or remove it. They might put themselves to bed in the main coop, mine often do, or they may go back to their old coop location and try to sleep in that area. If they do not go to the right coop, I wait until dark when they are easy to catch and lock them in the main coop overnight until they get the message.

Mine practically never sleep on the main roosts with the adults until about the time the pullets start to lay. Once they start laying the old hens seem to accept them, the transition to sleeping on the roosts together is usually really peaceful. Usually. Until they mature to that point they tend to find their own place to sleep where they are away from the hens. That may be on the floor, it may be on top of something else. If the coop is fairly small or they can't find a place they feel safe from the adult hens they may be reluctant to put themselves to bed in that coop. Or they may wait until all the adults are inside.

Each of us have our own unique facilities. Each flock has its own dynamics. I don't always get the same results even in the same facilities because of different flock dynamics, I can't give you any guarantees as to what you will see. But overall I think you will be successful, just hope it is as easy as mine usually are.