How to help my 9 & 12 week old chicks get along?

[Nicosauce]

So I have all 7 of my chicks in the same coop! 4 - 12 week old and 3 - 9 week old. The 12 week old are obviously decently larger than their more youthful sisters. All of different breeds, nothing fancy(that I know of, I can name them if it helps).

Now, the youngest reside in a cubby that will eventually be where everybody lays their eggs. The door to the cubby stays open so they can come out if they want, and we even pull them out manually and put them on the perch. They always hurry back in now.

They will NOT come out!!! The others kind of rush at them, I haven’t seen much pecking and def no blood drawn!

What can I do to help these babies come out?

 

[Ridgerunner]

It might help to know some more of what you have to work with. How big, in feet or meters, is your run, your coop, and any brooders or that nest you are using for the younger chicks. When do they have access to the outside run, if they do? How long has this been going on? A photo or two of your facilities might help.

This sounds pretty normal. More mature chickens tend to bully less mature chickens, especially when they are first introduced. And especially if room is tight. It doesn't always happen but it does often enough. What you describe is pretty classic behavior. If the young ones approach the older ones they are in danger of getting pecked so they very quickly learn to stay away. It has nothing to do with size, it's because of maturity.

What can you do? That depends some on what you have to work with. Give them as much room as you can. Don't try to force them to share a tight space. If the older ones are outside in the run the younger might explore the coop. You can sometimes improve the quality of what room you have by adding clutter. Clutter means things they can hide under, behind, or over. It helps to break the line of sight.

If you can house them across wire so they can see each other for a week or so before they merge it can help. It can help to have widely spaced feed and water stations so they can eat without being bullied by the older ones. That could well mean one feed and water station outside and one in the coop.

Sometimes you can just put chicks that age together and it is not a problem. Sometimes it gets really rough. A lot of that depends on the personality of the individual chicks but how much room you have and some other things can play into it. My goal with integration is that no one gets hurt. Nothing more than that. All that becoming one big happy flock will come later. The main goal is that no one gets hurt.

One of the best tools you have to make it work is patience. Let them work these things out between themselves at their pace. That may be days, weeks, or even a few months. It's normal in my flock that each age group form it's own sub-flock and avoids the others as much as they can, day and night. At some point they will merge into one flock and hang out together during the day and sleep together at night. With mine that's often about the time the younger ones start to lay.

Sometimes these integrations are unbelievably easy, no drama at all. I recently read a post on here where it worked out that way. Yours can still work out that way, I hope it does. But it can also get really rough. Good luck!

 

[Nicosauce]

It might help to know some more of what you have to work with. How big, in feet or meters, is your run, your coop, and any brooders or that nest you are using for the younger chicks. When do they have access to the outside run, if they do? How long has this been going on? A photo or two of your facilities might help.

This sounds pretty normal. More mature chickens tend to bully less mature chickens, especially when they are first introduced. And especially if room is tight. It doesn't always happen but it does often enough. What you describe is pretty classic behavior. If the young ones approach the older ones they are in danger of getting pecked so they very quickly learn to stay away. It has nothing to do with size, it's because of maturity.

What can you do? That depends some on what you have to work with. Give them as much room as you can. Don't try to force them to share a tight space. If the older ones are outside in the run the younger might explore the coop. You can sometimes improve the quality of what room you have by adding clutter. Clutter means things they can hide under, behind, or over. It helps to break the line of sight.

If you can house them across wire so they can see each other for a week or so before they merge it can help. It can help to have widely spaced feed and water stations so they can eat without being bullied by the older ones. That could well mean one feed and water station outside and one in the coop.

Sometimes you can just put chicks that age together and it is not a problem. Sometimes it gets really rough. A lot of that depends on the personality of the individual chicks but how much room you have and some other things can play into it. My goal with integration is that no one gets hurt. Nothing more than that. All that becoming one big happy flock will come later. The main goal is that no one gets hurt.

One of the best tools you have to make it work is patience. Let them work these things out between themselves at their pace. That may be days, weeks, or even a few months. It's normal in my flock that each age group form it's own sub-flock and avoids the others as much as they can, day and night. At some point they will merge into one flock and hang out together during the day and sleep together at night. With mine that's often about the time the younger ones start to lay.

Sometimes these integrations are unbelievably easy, no drama at all. I recently read a post on here where it worked out that way. Yours can still work out that way, I hope it does. But it can also get really rough. Good luck!

I think I have sorted it out! Thank goodness, because I did not feel like measuring the dimensions of the coop and run just yet. Tho I will soon... I think it is plenty big enough for 7+ chickens.
Thank you so much for your informative response and helpful nature.