Hi all, I’m in the process of integrating seven 10 week olds (all pullets) with eight 7 month olds (7 hens, one roo.)
I started them with the see but don’t touch method in the run—I set up a large pen with a roof inside the run so the big girls couldn’t dive bomb from their favorite roosting spot. There was interest at first but after about 2 weeks I opened up the pen.
There was a decent amount of chasing and pecking, especially if one chick got split off the pack, but nothing too bad. The roo didn’t really partake, he checked the chicks out but didn’t peck—and the big girls didn’t peck anyone while he was nearby.
It’s been 3-4 days now and the big girls do their thing, the babies have taken to sitting up on the pen all day away from the big girls— and I noticed they’re being kept from the food and water so I have their own food and water inside the pen which I’ve set up to have openings on the sides big enough for the little ones, and the hens if they’re super curious but they generally stay out because they have to squeeze to get into it.
I’m only worried about one of the babies—a silkie that I don’t think can get up on the pen with the others as easily—she gets chased around a decent bit and tonight after they calmed for the night (the only time I can really inspect them) I noticed she has a tad of blood on her tail feathers (definitely plucked some) and a small speck on her back from a pecking
At this point, should I give more hiding spots for her and let them continue? I’d hate to have to take her and a friend out and have to restart all this again in a few weeks. I have a bunch of pallets I can throw in there for her that I know she can get through but the big girls can’t.
I also get a little worried because it’s getting cold at night—40’s mostly with scattered 30’s—and the little ones aren’t following the big girls into the coop yet. I have a box in there for them to snuggle up in but they’ve been sleeping up on the pen instead. Do I need to worry about them sleeping out in the open, or will they find a warmer place if they need to? It’s a sealed and covered run so no rain or predators get in.
The big girls also sleep in a gap at the top of the coop instead of the roosting bars I made them—they started sleeping up there before I could wire it off, assumingly because it’s the highest point for them and they can see outside the coop too. Would it help integration if I fenced that off now like I had planned—forcing them to sleep somewhere new—almost like a new neutral sleeping ground?
Thanks!
I started them with the see but don’t touch method in the run—I set up a large pen with a roof inside the run so the big girls couldn’t dive bomb from their favorite roosting spot. There was interest at first but after about 2 weeks I opened up the pen.
There was a decent amount of chasing and pecking, especially if one chick got split off the pack, but nothing too bad. The roo didn’t really partake, he checked the chicks out but didn’t peck—and the big girls didn’t peck anyone while he was nearby.
It’s been 3-4 days now and the big girls do their thing, the babies have taken to sitting up on the pen all day away from the big girls— and I noticed they’re being kept from the food and water so I have their own food and water inside the pen which I’ve set up to have openings on the sides big enough for the little ones, and the hens if they’re super curious but they generally stay out because they have to squeeze to get into it.
I’m only worried about one of the babies—a silkie that I don’t think can get up on the pen with the others as easily—she gets chased around a decent bit and tonight after they calmed for the night (the only time I can really inspect them) I noticed she has a tad of blood on her tail feathers (definitely plucked some) and a small speck on her back from a pecking
At this point, should I give more hiding spots for her and let them continue? I’d hate to have to take her and a friend out and have to restart all this again in a few weeks. I have a bunch of pallets I can throw in there for her that I know she can get through but the big girls can’t.
I also get a little worried because it’s getting cold at night—40’s mostly with scattered 30’s—and the little ones aren’t following the big girls into the coop yet. I have a box in there for them to snuggle up in but they’ve been sleeping up on the pen instead. Do I need to worry about them sleeping out in the open, or will they find a warmer place if they need to? It’s a sealed and covered run so no rain or predators get in.
The big girls also sleep in a gap at the top of the coop instead of the roosting bars I made them—they started sleeping up there before I could wire it off, assumingly because it’s the highest point for them and they can see outside the coop too. Would it help integration if I fenced that off now like I had planned—forcing them to sleep somewhere new—almost like a new neutral sleeping ground?
Thanks!