Integrating 2 rounds of chicks (different ages) to main flock. Brooding outside. Total newb.

We've got a lot of integrating to do too! It's that time of year again šŸ™„. We ALWAYS integrate at night, chickens are (arguably) dumb so when they wake up in the morning and see new chicken teenagers they're like "huh?" and that's about it. We've done it a couple of times and the outcome has always been fine, no bullying, no territorial behavior, they do have to figure out the pecking order but that's no biggie teenagers figure out pretty quick that messing with a bigger chicken won't be fun.

We have a yard full of chickens, a tractor full of teenager chickens, and a brooder full too. Hopefully we have another successful year of integrating :fl
 
Iā€™m on the integrating boat too. I have 16 3 week olds that need to be integrated with 19 2 week olds. They need to live happily together before they move out to the coop. Then those babies need to be integrated with my 7 hens. I have 12 EE eggs due to hatch May 24 weekend, I plan to hopefully sell some of those and keep maybe a couple....at which point those ones will need to be integrated too. I hate integration but I love hatching. You play you pay I guess! Lol
 
Mine have been together about five days now. They are still crying when I come out to put everyone away at night, but it seems like that starts when they hear me coming. Instead of running away, they stay near my daughter and wait for her to lift them up. Do they not remember they can fly up there? I've seen them do it.

During the day everyone seems settled. Ironically, the slightly older chicks were my easiest group to learn to go up to bed at night. You would think they could set a good example, but they are still too scary at bedtime, even if they aren't scary during the day now.
 
Mine have been together about five days now. They are still crying when I come out to put everyone away at night, but it seems like that starts when they hear me coming. Instead of running away, they stay near my daughter and wait for her to lift them up. Do they not remember they can fly up there? I've seen them do it.

During the day everyone seems settled. Ironically, the slightly older chicks were my easiest group to learn to go up to bed at night. You would think they could set a good example, but they are still too scary at bedtime, even if they aren't scary during the day now.
We use an automatic, solar-powered sliding door in the coop in our run that opens at a certain time in the morning and closes at a certain time each night. We have ā€˜teenageā€™ chicks still trying to integrate with our older hens, but without our involvement, the chicks have learned to follow the hens up the ramp and into the coop each evening and theyā€™ve taken to it much easier than I expected! Now if I could just get them to get along...!
 
Update on ours, the chicks three weeks apart in age are fully integrated. They are sharing a mobile coop out in the temp fenced field area. For the past few weeks they've been there, remaining closed in the coop/run. I'm waiting for a little more size on the youngest so that they're less interesting to flying predators. The main flock is out around them during the day, and in their own coop at night. The hens adore the babies and often sit next to the coop and talk to them.

I've also got a smaller coop where I've just moved our formerly broody hen and her adopted three week old chicks. They've been in an outbuilding while I waited for this to arrive. The rooster is super happy to see her back. I honestly don't know which group to open the doors for first. She is a good mom and I think will protect her two babies, but I don't want to risk losing them. But she is super ready to get out.

So, still a few weeks from a full integration of the flock, but making lots of progress in baby steps.
 
Piggy backing off this post, my baby girls are 10 weeks, but my buttercups and sussex are still so much smaller than the rest of my flock, Iā€™m so hesitant to let them out into the main run. My golden sex link girl is big enough to blend well. Even though they are 10 weeks old, should I still wait a couple weeks more until those girls get bigger? Iā€™ve got some big hens and my BCM rooster is ginormous. Theyā€™ve had a fence between them since they were 6 weeks old, so my flock knows them by now
 
It sounds like you're on the right track. There will be some tough first days where the littles are scared, but the nice part about them being definitely still small, the adults will consider them "babies" and won't be too tough on them. That's been my experience anyway. I peck here or there, and then the younger ones stay out of the way of the older hens. The two groups I was putting together earlier in this post are a tight family group now, and they're in with the full flock. Having enough space for the little ones to get out of the way is key. I hope it goes well!
 
Oh yay, that gives me hope, maybe Iā€™ll introduce them in a week or so. Happy to hear yours is one big happy family now : )
 

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