I need an integration plan...

[tallyho]

I have 6 hens who vary in age from 2-7 years old. I took in a broody and her single baby. My girls live in a coop with a small totally enclosed run but are let out every day to into a large fenced area. The mom and baby are being kept in a temporary pen with a dog crate. Mama comes out of the pen every once in a while, cruises the large yard and takes a really good dust bath in their designated lounging/bathing area. The other girls check her out but aren't too bothered by her presence and don't bother her too much. The mama and baby are visible to the others and have been with us for 4 weeks.

In the past, I have added two chickens at time using the put-them-in-the-coop-at-night technique and have had minimal trouble with bullying.

Here are my questions:
1) how long should I keep mama with her baby?
2) should I fully integrate mama with the 6 otheres and keep baby in the small pen until she's grown, and to what age? That means adding one chicken to the flock on two separate occasions. Worries me that the new ones won't have backup.
3) should I keep mama and baby together until baby is closer to being full size? Then introduce both (that is if the baby is a pullet!)?

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is a bit of a risky situation with the Mama being new also. If they have been sharing the same space during the day, I'd try putting Mama and the chick in with the others at night while Mama will still defend her chick. At some point pretty soon, she will stop defending the chick and just treat it like any other chicken. Usually a broody is so defensive of her chick and has such a bad attitude that the others leave her and the chicks alone. This way Mama handles the integration issues for the chick. Sometimes Mama does not have a bad enough attitude or there is an unusually agressive hen in the flock and this does not work, but it is the way I'd try it. I would check on them early the next morning to see how it went.

If they all have access to the same area, you can just leave Mama and the chick in their own private digs and see if they start sleeping in the big coop on their own at some future point. I may be reading this wrong, but I think they are all sharing a common area during the day and go to their separate sleeping facilities at night.

Good luck!