How to move in the new pullets

[hayjade]

I know this HAS to be the most common question but I really couldnt find an answer anywhere. I am sorry if it has been posted too many times. I am trying to put my 12 week old pullets in with my ten 6 month old hens and it is a brutal scene everytime!! they all gang up on the new guys and pick them apart. I have had them separated by just a poultry wire panel for over a month! they are virtually living together just not where they can peck. They see each other contstantly. I am getting tired of having to feed them separate. There are 5 younger ones...2 look like roosters.I dont know if that matters. I mean it is BRUTAL...I worry they will kill they smaller guys. They all have plenty of room, plenty of food. Is there a trick? Right now the guys will find a hiding place to avoid being killed. They are RIR and that is my favorite. I am even happy that I have at least one rooster in the new group! Amazingly one of the worst hens to peck on the new ones is one of the girls that the other hens used to pick on constantly. I try not to care and to tell myself they are just chickens and they will work it out but I just cant bear to see the little guys get so beat up and crying.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I find this to be a great site to explain the dynamics of flock integration. It tells you why and how.

Buff Hooligan’s Adding to your flock
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

Something to remember. The pecking order is how the flock manages to co-exist and thrive. A pecking order will be detemined, sometimes with little violence but often with violence. I personally do not intervene unless one really gets injured.