Help me integrate my flock!

[BayBay Peepers]

Sounds like things are going pretty good so far I'm sorry to see you lost a chick. Sometimes (like your case it seems) there just isn't a way to prevent it.

 

[mcclucker]

Another update -
Mama hen doesn't want to adopt the 4, but she is fine coexisting with them. The other hens leave all the chicks alone, so they are all together most of the day.

They are still separate at night - big hens roost in coop, mama and chicks in their pen, brooder chicks in their enclosed brooder pen. One of mama's chicks - pretty sure he's a rooster- herds the brooder chicks around but doesn't attack them, so the chicks all seem to get along. Hopefully when the mama decides she is done with her chicks I can get them all to roost in the coop at night. I'm pretty happy with how this has gone so far! This is one of the big hens with the four brooder chicks.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I have a complicated situation I would love advice with.

So I had 4 hens, and had placed an order for 7 chicks. I was planning to brood them in a separate brooder in the coop and then integrate them when they were a month old or so.

While I was waiting for chicks to arrive my golden laced Wyandotte went broody and was not giving up so I moved her into the brooder pen and had her sit on fake eggs for 2 weeks. I gave her two of the chicks (at night) which she adopted easily and is a great mum. They are 3 weeks old now.

She is the head chicken of the bunch and has been leading her chicks out with the other hens and they are doing great.

So I also have the other 4 (I was afraid to give her all of them - she's only 10 months old and had never had chicks before) which I raised in a separate pen in the garage. I have now moved that pen out to the shed so everyone can see/hear each other.

At what point can I introduce them? One of the brooder babies got out while I was cleaning and the mama mostly ignored it, but there was a warning peck. I am not worried about the other hens attacking any of the chicks - they are all afraid of mama and are staying away from all the chicks for now.

Is there a chance the mama hen will accept them now, at 3 weeks? What's the safest way to try to integrate them? The brooder pen is a mesh puppy playpen and mama seems very interested in the chicks that aren't "hers" - she clucks at them and is constantly checking on them.

No one can, honestly answer whats going to happen when they get together, You seem to be thinking it through. You will just have to choose a day when you are going to be around so you can watch them for a while when you allow them together. I have not been very lucky putting chicks with adults---even a broody with chicks----probably because I have RIR hens and they never seem to be real friendly with the others. I had lots of pecked or dead chicks and torn up broody hens trying to protect them so ""I"" never mix them anymore. I just built 3 days ago a 6000sqft run so my young chicks can some-what free range away from the adults. Over the last few years I mainly just kept the young ones in pens until they were grown, then I sell the older chickens and the younger/next group takes over.

 

[mcclucker]

Last update -
Chicks are about 5 weeks old. They are fully integrated into the flock.

Mama hen still chases the other hens away from her chicks, which means that they leave the other 4 chicks alone too. Mama took her babies into the coop to sleep last night and this morning couldn't get away from them fast enough. She also laid her first egg in 7+ weeks. The four brooder chicks hang out together and the two that were mothered don't really interact with them much but I assume that will change as the mama leaves them.

One of the mothered chicks is a surprise rooster and he is not very happy about being abandoned. He cheeps at the mama whenever she gets too far and she ignores him. It's pretty funny. The other chick doesn't seem to mind.
I feel like I got really lucky - for those reading this who might want to do the same. Several factors helped. First my broody was the top hen, and the others follow her lead. They are staying away from all thare chicks, not just the mama hen's two.

Second I spent a lot of time with them while I was integrating them. I acted as the "mom for the four and my mama hen definitely trusts and respects me.

Third I had a lot of space to keep them separate but near each other- I had a coop, a broody pen in a connected shed, and then a portable puppy playpen for the 4. I have electricity in my chicken coop for the brooder plate so I could move them out there pretty young and they would stay warm enough.

I do think having the broody raise a couple also helped with integration rather than brooding them all separately. I got super lucky that I had a broody at the right time and she was so good at it. Without her I think I would have had to wait until the chicks were much bigger to integrate the two groups.

Thanks for all of your advice and I hope this thread helps others someday

Here are the four sunbathing in the run - two Delaware, a Swedish Flower hen and a golden cuckoo Marans.

 

[mcclucker]

And my mama GLW with her speckled Sussex chick