How and when to introduce babies to the flock?

[ray2310]

I am looking for suggestions for integrating chicks into our flock....
Here is what we have:

Old Girls - 18 Hens and 1 Roo, living in our main chicken coop and chicken run.
Middle Peeps - 12 Chicks (bought at TSC the week of 3-29 - there are about 3-4 days between hatchings, 6 reds are older, 5 Barred Rock/1 white are younger) living in our master bath - bath tub
Tiny Peeps - 1 mamma hen and her 2 hatched babies (babies born 4-12, one week old tomorrow) Living in the front section of our chicken coop, separate from our main chicken coop

How and when can I integrate them into one flock?
SHould Momma stay with her babies until they become part of the flock, we want her to raise her babies and not interfere.

The main section of the coop has a 40 foot by 24 foot run attached
The Front section of the coop has a 35 by 15 foot run attached (Momma and tiny peeps are kept inside, with no access to the attached run)

Momma hen is aggressive to the Middle peeps (which we expected)
Old Girls are aggressive to the Middle Peeps (which we also expected)

 

[abanjaf]

My six-week-olds are now full-time out in the main coop with all the adults. I have an old metal dog crate with grated flooring (for easy viewing and rinsing of the floor) that house the babies inside the coop. Every evening the chickens are let out to free-range, including the babies. This way during the day, the adults get used to seeing the babies. And in the evenings while distracted with the excitement of being out of the coop, they have direct contact with each other. They appear to get along well when everyone is together but I will probably wait to remove the crate in a few weeks once the babies are a bit larger. In the past, I have also fenced off a portion of the coop for the babies, this worked equally well although more work was involved.

 

[ray2310]

so you keep the babies in the dog cage during the day in the coop, then let everyone out in the evening to free range.
at night you keep the babies in the cage too, while the big chickens go to roost?

 

[abanjaf]

Yes. My hubby made a little perch for them that's in the crate. Although when I go outside to put them back in the crate after everyone is back in the coop, they are always all together right next to where the Silkies roost, so I think they've already decided on where their new sleeping quarters are going to be