I know I probably did the wrong thing!!

[NonnasBabies]

Okay let's see where to start!! I've been a real wuss about being scared to go ahead and mix my flock!! My babies are now 16 weeks old same height as my big girls just not the same girth!! Well Christmas day my hubby and I realized all the babies had gotten out their cage! (He forgot to do the latch!) Well we decided to go ahead and put them together. The stupid part about the whole thing was we're on nights and would be leaving for work a couple hours after we did this. We watched them for a while and they had the (I think) normal picking at each other with the pecking order thing. Fast forward to 5am when I get home from work to find all 15 of my babies huddled together in the run all wet and cold. (My coop is just 3 sided not enclosed) So here I go and move them all back in their brooder! I just felt so flippin bad!!! I know I probably should have tried to put them on the roost but i didn't.

I believe I'm gonna try again Monday night to put them on the roost after my other 4 go to roost and then just periodically check on them through the night to make sure they say in the coop. A friend also suggested maybe putting a heat lamp out there (even though I haven't used one on them in a couple of months) that they might stay in there if it's warm!! I'm also gonna be adding another roost so they will have more than enough room for the 19 of them!!

So do you think this is a good idea or should I wait a couple more weeks to try it??

Thanks,
Missi

 

[Shiningfeather]

At that age I would integrate them together, but would do it on a day I'm off work so that I could be there just in case. You may want to put the new girls roost just a little lower if they are not used to roosting. I found my young ones huddled outside a couple of times too and just picked them up and put them back in he coop. If you could put them out there at night I have found it seems to go much smoother.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Yea that's one thing I forgot to mention was that I'm off Monday & Tuesday so that's why I was going to try again then!!

Thanks for the info!!

Do you think it's a good idea to but a heat lamp in there or should I just not bother??

Thanks,
Missi

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Exactly. Your youngsters outnumber the big girls by quite a lot. As long as your home to make sure they go to bed in the right spot it should be fine.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
Yea I know I screwed up by doing that and going to work but it was one of those split decisions that just ended up being such a wrong one!!

Hopefully I can get it right the next time!!

Thanks,
Missi

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Yea I know I screwed up by doing that and going to work but it was one of those split decisions that just ended up being such a wrong one!!

Hopefully I can get it right the next time!!

Thanks,
Missi

It happens, don't beat yourself up over it. Everybody survived and you learned something new about chickens. I'm sure it will go much better next time.

I've done much worse while trying to figure things out on our little "farm."

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
Thanks for that!!

Missi

 

[onthespot]

another thing you can try is remove the four bigger girls for a few days. Let the smaller birds get used to the coop without being pecked. When you bring the big girls back they will find fifteen confident birds in there, not fifteen scared chicks and be less likely to try to peck them and beat them down.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
Thanks... I'll keep this in mind if our next try doesn't go so well!!

Missi

 

[CMV]

Quote:
Words of wisdom here. This is how I am planning to integrate my new birds next year. I have tried small scale integrations and had terrible luck with it. This spring I am building a larger coop and intend to get the newbies situated in the new coop before I bring in the already established flock from the old coop. Mix up the pecking order a bit.