Incorporating??? Imprinting??? HELP!

[halfpint512]

I am new to chickens and just got my first ones today. I purchased 8 red sex-link from an amish farmer, that just started laying in the past few weeks. They are beautiful and get along wonderful and free range in a large fenced in area. We had to have the kids chase them all and put them in the coop at dusk. How do I get them to go in at night? I never thought to ask if he cooped them at night...

How do I get them in, or is it going to mean chasing them down every night???

I also purchased 6 Lavender white crested Polish. These are not full grown yet, and I don't really know how old they are. They are feathered, but I noticed they are still pink skinned under their wings. Any guesses on the ages anyone? I put a few roosting sticks in their cage but no one is trying to roost tonight. I didn't realize I couldn't put the chickens together...but as you can imagine - we figured that out really quick

. No one was hurt. I tried putting the Polish in the pen, and then added one sex-link at a time. Most of the sex-links didn't bother them at all and pecked at the ground right next to eachother. Just 2 kept pecking the polish! Should I wait until the Polish are much older? What is the best way to get them to be family? I brought the Polish into the house, because I just wasn't sure if they were old enough to be outside or not.

I also have 1 Polish that is constantly pecky with the others. I finally just took it out and put it in it's own box. Could I have gotten a roo by mistake? What do I do with this naughty one? Is this what people mean by "pecking order"? I don't want a roo, and I certainly don't want one that is going to peck everyone!

Any ideas on all these questions would be great.

 

[faykokoWV]

first, welcome to chickens.

I'll do my best to answer some of the questions, but the best advise I can offer is search this site and read as much as you can on the different topics realted to your questions. My answers are based on what I've read and what I've delt with myself. There are many different ways to handle things

1. Getting them in the coop at night.
because the coop is new to them, they don't know its home yet. Some people suggest locking them in for a day or two so they know its home. If they are going to the door, but not going in you may want to put a light in the coop. I use a solar light I got at Lowes.

2. Incorporating younger chickens
The best way is to have them near the older chickens in a seperate area where they can see each other but I've not had the set up to do this. I put them all in and watch. I make sure they have plenty of room to get away from the pecking and different places where a smaller one could get to but a bigger one can't.

3. Pecking
Like street basketball- no blood no foul They will establish pecking order and there is nothing you can do about it. If they aren't pecking on just one bird and if they aren't drawing blood let it go. The one doing all the pecking could just be a dominant hen.
The other problem may be that they don't have enough room.

4. roosting

are your roost wide enough? they should be able to sit on the roost with their feet flat. Young birds often don't roost.

5. old enough to be outside

post a picture and ask the experts. If they have any downy feathers or bald spots you should probably keep them inside a little longer depending on how warm it is in your area.

 

[halfpint512]

Yeah!!!! ((((doing happy dance))))

I took the advice and put all of them out to free range together and walked around with them all afternoon. Then I put the juvie Polish in the coop and locked them in there for a while with the door open enough for the others to go in to get water and food. They ignored the Polish all day. Then put them in to roost tonight...still having to catch them and put them in. (Do I need to wait until dark for them to go in the coop???)

Just finished taking some pics of all the little juvie Polish roosting next to my Sex-links....THEY LOOK SO CUTE!

 

[tcmstalcup]

When I walk to the coop with food they all follow like I'm the pied piper and I just shut the gate. When all my chickens were new I shut them up in the coop/run for a week.

 

[halfpint512]

I tried throwing out some food, and making a silly "chick, chick, chick" call hoping they will connect the food treats with the call. But they didn't like anything I threw out today! Tried some cooked potatoes, green peppers, oatmeal, and carrots. They just pecked and walked away. ...

Do I need to wait until it is pretty dark before I expect them to go in? I am getting a run built on tuesday. I guess until then it will be catch the chicken.