He Went for the Kill =(

[JEsqueda]

I have two sets of young chickens. My larger flock (4 pullets, 2 cockerels), are all about 11 weeks old, give or take a few days. My smaller flock (4 pullets) are somewhere around 5-6 weeks old-- they were at the tail end of the chick season, and a bit on the large side at the feed store. I'm not sure how old they were when I got them a month ago. The little pullets are about half the size of the larger flock.

For the past 10 days, the younger chicks have been housed in a run that shares a wall with the larger flock's coop/run area. They spend a good deal of time looking at each other through the chicken wire. The first day was a bit scary, with the roosters prowling the fence line trying to find a way in. They settled down eventually, and haven't paid them too much attention since.

I tried to introduce the smaller chicks today. The nicer (albeit larger and more dominant) of my two roos went a bit nuts and immediately went for the pullet's throat. She screamed. I dove in and separated them. The pullet is fine, though quite shaken (with good reason!).

I feel like Nugget tried to kill her.

I've heard they need to be close to the same size before attempting to integrate, but have also seen a lot of people supervising older chickens with younger chicks, with no problem. I thought we'd do a brief supervised visit, and it lasted all of 2 seconds before all hell broke loose.

When can I try again, without risking the lives of my younger flock?

 

[Free Feather]

You may be over reacting a little. Things might look really horrible to us sometimes, but if there is not an amount of blood or wounds, it is typically nothing to worry about and is normal. Intervening makes the pecking order process take longer than if we just let it run its course.

If it is actually not working out well, you should wait until the younger birds are at least eight weeks old.

 

[JEsqueda]

You may be over reacting a little. Things might look really horrible to us sometimes, but if there is not an amount of blood or wounds, it is typically nothing to worry about and is normal. Intervening makes the pecking order process take longer than if we just let it run its course. 

If it is actually not working out well, you should wait until the younger birds are at least eight weeks old.

Okay... so maybe I am overreacting. Having only ever had chickens of the same age, this isn't behavior I've seen before. I looked up some videos of roosters being introduced to new flocks. Although older than him, the behavior was similar. I was unable to find broken skin or injuries of any kind.

Shoukd I wait a few more weeks, or try to add the groups together again now?

 

[16 paws]

Okay... so maybe I am overreacting. Having only ever had chickens of the same age, this isn't behavior I've seen before. I looked up some videos of roosters being introduced to new flocks. Although older than him, the behavior was similar. I was unable to find broken skin or injuries of any kind.

Shoukd I wait a few more weeks, or try to add the groups together again now?

Why dont you make a small area the chicks can get into but the bigger ones cant? That way the littles can go hide from the bigger ones if things get scary for them.

 

[JEsqueda]

Something to crawl under, maybe? One Youtube video had them able to crawl underneath the coop itself (he dug underneath it), but my coop is not set up that way.

I could maybe build a hidey-hole for the little ones.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a fence within the fence. In the smaller area, which is attached to the coop shared by my 7 and 10 week old chicks, I've cut some holes through the plastic fencing so the littles can come and go, but the biggest of the adults can't get through, and if the smaller adults go through, it slows them down a bit... and they are not as apt to be aggressive in this area. I stole the idea from Azygous. She actually made some wood frames (with doors) for the openings in her fence to cover the sharp wire edges.

 

[JEsqueda]

I have a fence within the fence. In the smaller area, which is attached to the coop shared by my 7 and 10 week old chicks, I've cut some holes through the plastic fencing so the littles can come and go, but the biggest of the adults can't get through, and if the smaller adults go through, it slows them down a bit... and they are not as apt to be aggressive in this area. I stole the idea from Azygous. She actually made some wood frames (with doors) for the openings in her fence to cover the sharp wire edges.

I like this idea.

Is this in the run area? Do your little ones still have coop access at night? Mine are nesting separately, of course. I'd like to integrate them into the big coop, both for ease of maintenance and for overall safety.

 

[aart]

The small 'doors' into a safe area for the smallers worked well for me too.

10 days is not long for them to become acclimated.
11 weeks and 5-6 weeks is a pretty big size and maturity difference too.

Having 2 cockerels just coming into their hormones may complicate your integration,
I've found where there are 2 or more males their aggressiveness multiples like 10 fold due to 'competition'.

 

[lazy gardener]

I like this idea.

Is this in the run area? Do your little ones still have coop access at night? Mine are nesting separately, of course. I'd like to integrate them into the big coop, both for ease of maintenance and for overall safety.

Yes, it is in the common run area. The youngsters still sleep in the old coop which is also enclosed in the common run. I have electronet which allows me to enclose a 1600 s.f. foot print. I can move the fencing around as needed to change things up.