Integrating 8-week-olds into a single adult hen's run.

[Heaven 11]

I cannot find a thread that discusses this. If it's been posted, forgive me, but I would love suggestions. I was down to two adult hens in a single run. One of them died Friday night. I hated for this hen to be alone, yesterday I bought seven 8-week-olds (6 pullets and a cockeral). The hen is an Americana (not an Americauna) and has never been broody but has, over her 3 1/2 years of life, been with chicks as young as 1-week-old (brooded by other mamas) with no aggression. Could I put the youngsters in a dog crate in the run until this evening, then just let them out to roost with the lone hen this evening?

 

[FrostRanger]

I cannot find a thread that discusses this. If it's been posted, forgive me, but I would love suggestions. I was down to two adult hens in a single run. One of them died Friday night. I hated for this hen to be alone, yesterday I bought seven 8-week-olds (6 pullets and a cockeral). The hen is an Americana (not an Americauna) and has never been broody but has, over her 3 1/2 years of life, been with chicks as young as 1-week-old (brooded by other mamas) with no aggression. Could I put the youngsters in a dog crate in the run until this evening, then just let them out to roost with the lone hen this evening?

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I treated it as a normal integration and did see but no touch for a few weeks. How long it will take depends on the temperment of the birds involved (my adult hen was semi-aggressive so I had to go more slowly). Eventually I moved to supervised interactions. Sleeping together comes last, they should be spending days together civily for at least several days, maybe a week. Know that the goal is civility, she will not fully accept them until around when they start laying but she should tolerate them as long as they keep their distance. You also need plenty of space and clutter so the chicks can run away and hide if needed. Multiple food and water stations is also crucial to prevent resource guarding

 

[Heaven 11]

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I treated it as a normal integration and did see but no touch for a few weeks. How long it will take depends on the temperment of the birds involved (my adult hen was semi-aggressive so I had to go more slowly). Eventually I moved to supervised interactions. Sleeping together comes last, they should be spending days together civily for at least several days, maybe a week. Know that the goal is civility, she will not fully accept them until around when they start laying but she should tolerate them as long as they keep their distance. You also need plenty of space and clutter so the chicks can run away and hide if needed. Multiple food and water stations is also crucial to prevent resource guarding

Thank you! I tried just putting them all together but she was resource guarding, so I added another food and water and then she started getting nasty. Now she is the one in the crate. Possibly not fair to her, but she was the problem. We shall see what happens next.

 

[FrostRanger]

Thank you! I tried just putting them all together but she was resource guarding, so I added another food and water and then she started getting nasty. Now she is the one in the crate. Possibly not fair to her, but she was the problem. We shall see what happens next.

It's expected. You have to go very slowly when integrating. Chickens don't like strange new birds and will act accordingly and a adult can severely injure or kill a chick if you aren't careful. I'd do see but no touch for at least a week before letting them mingle again

 

[Heaven 11]

I moved the older hen to my other run with an adult hen and four about three months old pullets/cockerels. They had all free-ranged together before the horrible massacre a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I've kept them in their respective runs - mama and four youngsters and, until Friday night, two older ladies. I left her in the crate yesterday and opened it after dark last night. They all seem to be doing fine this morning. I was out with them for over an hour and heard no squabbling, and they were even hanging on the same-ish side of the run. The newbies have a run all to themselves. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question