Integrating new pullets is not going so well...

[marlo1968]

Could you post pics of your panic room and coop set up? I have 8 pullets and a roo that are 5 weeks right now, and 15 grown hens. For now the pullets and roo go into a large dog kennel in the big girls run, but it's getting too small and I need to do something to give them more room for now and then a panic room for when they are a little older. thanks for the idea.

I first encountered this problem a few years ago when I was trying to integrate half a dozen six-week old pullets with three older hens. I had solved the problem outside in the run by putting up a "panic room" where the small fry could run into for safety when chased. The entrances to this pen-inside-a-pen were just large enough for the pullets to dash through, not the big hens. Their food and water were also kept inside this safe enclosure.

However, inside the coop the pullets were encountering one big bully who would station herself just inside the one pop hole and pick them off as they would enter.

I got out my carpentry tools and cut another pop hole into the coop at the far opposite end. It was a big job to fashion the headers and supports for a new door, but well worth the effort.

At first, I put up a partition inside the coop, giving the pullets their own side, and the older hens had the other. But after a few weeks, I took it down. The pullets were very agile and quick to figure out how to utilize both entrances, and they continued to use the panic room in the run until they were almost the same size as the hens.

I've used this system for every new set of chicks ever since, and I am successful in integrating them at the age of six weeks into the coop with very little problem.

I hope you can use some of these ideas, and you see some success, too.

 

[marlo1968]

Love the branches idea too, I may try that also, thanks for the great ideas