HELP!! Integrating new chicks with older hens

[Pattywack]

I've had great luck integrating new babies into my flock. I bought a small rabbit hutch with attached run that sits on the ground and the babies go in for a minimum 2 weeks inside my existing chicken run. This way the older girls can get used to seeing the newbies and vice versa. After that, I raise up the run portion of the hutch with bricks so that the babies can start venturing out but have a place to run when they start getting pecked. After about a month, everyone is used to each other and I'll find all of the babies (I guess they would be teenagers by that point right?) in roosting with the big girls. I usually leave the hutch in place until I can transition the babies to adult food. Then it gets stored in the shed for the next time we get babies.
Here is the hutch I bought: https://www.amazon.com/Pawhut-Woode...qid=1470704360&sr=8-133&keywords=rabbit+hutch
Good luck!

 

[wendorfa]

Well today one of the "girls" crowed. So now I'm trying to figure out what to do since I can't integrate just one hen

 

[Mrs. K]

What does your run look like? And how much space do you have? Measure it. Often times on here, I will see a run that is just an open rectangle. This makes the run nearly 2 dimensional, and really wastes the third dimension of height.

In a run, where the chickens should be spending most of their day, there should be places where a bird can get out of the sight of another bird. When two birds meet, they often determine who has dominance, with the dominant bird standing her ground, and the lower bird moving away from her. In a smaller run, there often is not enough space for this bird to move far enough away to show submission, which can upset the dominant bird into a harder stronger attack to prove her point. If the submissive bird disappears into a hide out, the dominant bird is satisfied and peace is in the flock. She does not have to stay disappeared, generally I have seen my lower birds, run away, out of sight, the dominant bird goes back to eating and a few seconds later the submissive bird is back beside her, no problem.

Your younger birds are the submissive birds until they begin to lay. So in your run you need some hide outs. Pallets are cheap and excellent, one can wire them up right in a corner, just make sure there are two exits, so as not to create a trap. Place a pallet up on cement blocks, so the smaller birds can get under it. The bigger birds will fit, but it will slow them down. Or put a pallet up of saw horses, so that birds can get under it in some shade or on top of it to roost. Set up some roosts in the corner, my birds love to roost in the late evening sun or early morning sun. And put a pallet up vertically in the middle of the run, Use some fence posts to hold it up. And put a feed and waterer behind it, so that a bird can eat there out of the sight of the main feeder.

As for space, it might be that your run/coop is not big enough for 4 birds, but I think it is because the little ones just have no way to show submission. Now after you make these changes, let your older birds out in the yard for just a bit, put your younger birds in the set up, and then move around in there, toward them so that they find the hideouts, then let the older birds in, they should come right back in with some treats. If there is still problem, put those older birds in the chick pen, and let the chicks in the bigger space for a couple of days.

Good luck,

Mrs K

 

[wendorfa]

Thanks Mrs K! As for the run - it is 8x8 - so 64 sq feet with multiple roosts and water/food. They also have access to the coop which is 4x4 and has a long roost and nesting boxes and food. I did have a crate in there but the babies would actually stick their head in the slots and expose their backs. As I said above, just discovered that one of them "Poppy" is really a "Pepe" so I need to rehome him. So now I'm looking for another similarly aged hen to add in with the other girl.

 

[lazy gardener]

IMO, your coop and run are too small for that many birds. the smaller the flock, the more room they require per bird due to the fact that even with the recommended 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird, there is not enough room for the birds being pecked on to get far enough away to satisfy chicken behavior protocol. I'm guessing that your coop is not big enough for the youngsters to be on roost without being attacked from below by the older birds. Also, are the nest boxes part of that 4 x 4 foot print, or are they hanging on the outside? How tall is the coop area, and how tall is the run?

 

[wendorfa]

Room is not an issue. Even if all 5 were out on the run there's 12.8 sq feet per bird and 3.2 inside which is more than most people I know. Nesting boxes hang on the outside (strangely enough nobody uses them) and nobody uses the roost inside. I guess I have weird girls. Right now I need to re home the roo and find another hen. Sigh.

 

[aart]

Room is not an issue. Even if all 5 were out on the run there's 12.8 sq feet per bird and 3.2 inside which is more than most people I know. Nesting boxes hang on the outside (strangely enough nobody uses them) and nobody uses the roost inside. I guess I have weird girls. Right now I need to re home the roo and find another hen. Sigh.

Room absolutely is an issue.
The sqft number you post for your coop is too small for 5 birds hatched and grown up together,
integration takes extra room. It's no wonder you're seeing the carnage you're seeing...and probably why they are not using the roosts.

 

[islandgirl82]

Any chance of expanding your run? Even a 50' roll of inexpensive plastic chicken fencing or garden fencing and garden stakes attached to your existing run can help make a difference. Understanding you're not allowed to free range but if you allow them in it when you can supervise to help that little one out. I would still keep the worst bully separate for several days (in her own enclosure to still give full access to both the coop and the run to the other three. OR take one of the girls who is not bullying and pair her up with the pullet and after they've bonded, reintroduce everyone.

 

[lazy gardener]

Aart speaks with the voice of experience. Integrating birds into a small coop and run is a recipe for disaster. If I were faced with that much space limitation, I think I'd work under the principle: All in/all out. Which means: Start chicks. Raise them together until they are no longer laying well. Then cull them, and start a new group of chicks. I stick by my original statement: A small flock with a small coop and run require MORE than the recommended minimum of 4 s.f in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird due to their social requirements. And in a coop/run of that size, I'd NEVER put more than 3 birds in it.

 

[wendorfa]

I did originally raise 6 girls together. With that size run/coop. None have ever shown an interest in roosting inside. I have a friend who has 5 and hers lay on the coop floor also. I can't free range (township ordinance) nor can I expand the size of the run (again, ordinance).