Integrating chicks with older pullets - I'm stuck!

[theawesomechick]

I have a four chicks somewhere in between five and six weeks old, and three pullets that are eight months old. Right now, I have them in two runs (chick's run is slightly larger) with a deer netting door separating them in the middle. I'm not sure how to continue with the integrating process, because although the older hens don't pay much heed to the chicks for the most part, when I put the two groups of pullets together, the hens bully the younger ones quite a bit; keeping them away from the feed, chasing them, pecking them, etc.. I have the "see each other but no contact" part down, and have for nearly three weeks now, but the older hens just aren't accepting the little ones and I can't keep them separated for too much longer. Suggestions?

 

[subhanalah]

It isn't typically recommended to start integrating chicks with the adult flock until they are of similar size, about 15-18 weeks. When you finally do introduce them, there will be some pecking order stuff going on but it is necessary so everyone knows their place.

If you can't keep them apart that long,what I would do is keep doing what you are doing. Having supervised visits frequently to protect anyone should the pecking order disputes get out of hand. Also, adding more food and water stations should help reduce skirmishes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A lot of what you can do depends on your facilities and how much room they have. One way chickens have learned to live peacefully in a flock is that the weaker runs away from the stronger if there is a confrontation or just avoid them to start with. They need enough room to run away and avoid. The less space you have the older the chicks need to be to try to integrate, but if they are really tight it is still very likely to get messy.

I’ve had a broody hen totally wean her chicks at three weeks. She just left them on their own to make their way with the flock, but she had spent three weeks taking care of them with the flock so they were well known to the other hens. I normally turn mine loose to roam with the flock at 8 weeks, but that age is more to do with my moving them to a grow-out coop and getting them used to it than worries about integration. I have a lot of room and I have never lost a chick doing it this way. I really do think space is the key.

What can you do to make it go easier for you? Extra food and water stations is a good idea. That way the older ones have more trouble bullying the chicks. Put something in there so the chicks can hide from the older ones. They like to be able to get under things but just getting behind things and out of sight helps. Try to not create any traps though where the chicks get cornered and can’t run away.

A safe haven can help. If you can fix a place with an opening large enough for the chicks but small enough the adults can’t get in, the chicks can get away if they need to. Another possible safe haven is a perch high enough so the adults can’t reach it from the ground and peck the younger birds’ feet when they are up there. When I’m integrating I often see the younger birds on the roosts in the morning before I open the pop door and they can get outside and run away.

The time I see mine getting bullied the worst is on the roosts at night as they are getting settled in. I put up a separate roost, a little lower and horizontally away from the man roosts to give the chickens being bullied a safe place to go that is not inside my nests. That’s a big part of why I use a grow-out coop too. They can sleep out there away from the adults as they grow.

 

[theawesomechick]

More food and water stations... I currently have two of each set up but I can easily provide more. I'm assuming that I should just open the door between them (literally) and let them have contact with each other? I once saw someone on another thread suggest that the two groups have short interacting periods. I could probably set up cardboard boxes with small holes in them for the chicks to hide. The two runs added together make for about 30 ft by 7 ft. Is this enough? I can't really keep the chicks in separate living quarters for much longer than week six.

 

[Ridgerunner]

One food and one water station in the run and another in the coop should be enough, but a third won’t hurt. In mine I normally find that if the older ones are in the run the chicks are in the coop, or the other way around or they hang in their own sections of the run/net area. But don’t be totally shocked if there are times they intermingle without a problem. Older chickens don’t always attack younger ones unless the younger get in their personal space. Some individual chickens and some flocks are a lot more laid back than others. You don’t always have problems.

You can try the shorter interaction periods. I really don’t know if that helps or not. I just open it in the morning and let them roam, but I do it at a time I can be around a fair amount. I have a 12’ x32’ run and a 30’ x 65’ area in electric netting so they have plenty of room. I’ve never lost a chicken doing this or had to separate them.

I think that 7’ x 30 foot will be plenty big enough. You might find that the younger ones are reluctant to pass the older in that 7’ width, but if trouble develops they have room to get away and generally avoid. I think you have enough room.

Good luck with it. Remember there are risks involved anytime you deal with living animals but most of us are really successful at this.

 

[theawesomechick]

Thank you for the support!

I'll start preparations, and maybe have a supervised interaction session today. After this week, the little chicks are going into the big girl coop with a heating pad, so that might change things up a bit! I'm really hoping that this process is quick, simple, and nonviolent.

 

[aart]

What kind of heating pad are you using?

Good Luck!

 

[theawesomechick]

Probably a simple Sunbeam heating pad. I let put the big and little chicks together today, only problem was that the hens were hogging the chicks' food and they couldn't eat. That should be remedied quite easily with some more feed and water stations.

 

[subhanalah]

You for a happy flock!

 

[theawesomechick]

My teeny tiny little white leghorn (who JUST started laying yesterday, at 8 months old) has turned out to be the NASTIEST of our little flock!

She keeps chasing the little ones into a tiny little hiding spot, shouting threats all the while! (Don't ask me how I know what chicken threats sound like. I just know.) So, back to keeping them separated.