Flock management

[KS_Chicken_Wrangler]

Hey gang!

A while back we made the choice to move the majority of our new batch of pullets (and the two cockerels) to my dad's farm a mile south of town, while keeping five pullets here at the house. All five at home are doing great and most of those at the farm are also great. The cockerels and rooster are soon to be in a bachelor pad in mom's garden to help with weed management and keep the soil in good shape.

It seems that there are three pullets, at the farm, who spend a lot of time in the coop; a Barnevelder, a Production Black, and a Speckled Sussex. I am trying to discern if they are hiding from the sex-crazed cockerels, or if they are being picked on by the other pullets in the group. The cockerel portion of the equation will soon be addressed. If it is the remaining pullets pushing these three around, how difficult would it be to re-integrate them with the five we have at home? They were all brooded together and have not been separated for more than a couple of months. Having not performed this task before, I was curious for input from those who may have some insight.

We are allowed to have up to 10 chickens in town, so I don't have an issue with adding them to the home flock in that regard. I am currently working out a way to improve my home coop/run to better handle 8 birds, but what I have will be sufficient for the time being. So, housing isn't an issue here, just wondering if there might be issues with reintegrating them back into a smaller flock with former broodermates.

Thanks in advance!

 

[FrostRanger]

You would have to watch them
You would still have to quarantine and reintegrate as a few months is a long time for them to be separated, doesn't matter if they grew up together or not, they will still treat each other as strangers

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Separate them and do look no touch with a barrier so they can see each other when integrating. I will say that I had a hen from last year's chick order who was the sole survivor after multiple deaths. She didn't have any friends and stayed away from the others in the main flock who were a group from my 2022 chick order. I had to lock the coop and kept them from entering for a few days due to an issue so they were in the run and free ranging together while also sleeping together in the run. After opening the coop back up she made a full 180 and is fully integrated with the flock. She interacts with the others and is very happy now. This might be worth a shot when you remove the roosters and cockerels before attempting to integrate them with another flock at home.