Integrating my birds

[Stacy A]

Good evening. I'm looking for some feedback, I'll keep this to the point. One month ago I integrated four 9 week old chickens into my existing flock of eight hens who are 7 months old. Two of my young chickens ended up being roosters, so two new hens and two roosters. I kept the roosters in the mix for now because I have read only two birds may be tough to pull off. Did the whole have them hang out next to each other for two weeks. Established hens were not nice as to be expected, I have one that especially goes out of her way to keep the new ones out of the mix when free ranging, and the new ones won't leave the coop and go into the run during the day while I'm at work. The roosters have been super protective of their two hen mates and my concern has been that the roosters are interfering with the two hens integrating. It's been just under a month since I combined them with not much progression so I culled the roosters yesterday morning. I know it's only been two days but I'm super hopeful someone tells me it's just a matter of time. The two new girls still stay separated outside the past two days(I'm sure they are stressed their protection is gone), but I'm guessing they're going to continue stuck in the coop all day. Should I put the barrier back up in the run perhaps and start over? My guess is the two hens will just sit in the corner all day.

Thanks for reading, anyone who has some input it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

Can you put out two food/watering stations temporarily, and a bit of clutter from the door of the coop to the first station? Such as tipping a pallet over the top of it, a wooden box or chair on its side, etc., so they have a bit of cover to be able to get to it?

We integrate often here—weeks or months apart, between growout pens—and there's sometimes some minor trouble, but usually the worst of it is when it's time to integrate into the coop. I'd say it just takes a week or two for ours to start leaving each other alone. I always have multiple food/waterers around though so nobody goes hungry or thirsty.

 

[Mrs. K]

Post pictures of your set up. Is it all or just a few. I might set the divider back up, but put your meanest girls there, and your young girls with just a few of the original birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The young ones are about 13 weeks old, still several weeks before they lay. Two young pullets and eight older pullets that are probably laying. I have no idea how many coops or runs you may have or how big any of them are.

Others get different results, but in my flock the pullets stay separated from the older hens until they start to lay. It's like I have two separate flocks. They don't bother each other unless the younger invade the personal space of the older. If they invade personal space they are likely to get pecked or worse. I have enough room so they can stay well apart during the day and the coop is big enough that they can sleep a safe distance from the older ones at night.

Many people do not have a lot of room yet can be successful. There are various tricks that you may be able to use to help. If you can let us know what facilities and space you have to work with, maybe even providing a few photos, we can hopefully help make this easier for you. Another part of this is to tell you that they are probably not going to be best friends until the younger pullets start to lay so you better know what to expect.

I have read only two birds may be tough to pull off.

One bird can be hard. Two or more is usually easier. The reason I generally recommend a minimum of three is that if one dies the others still have a buddy. As long as none die two should not be any harder than three or more.

Good luck with this. People do this stuff all of the time, usually successfully. But knowing what you have to work with can make it a lot easier for me to suggest certain things.