Integrating pullets safely into chicken coop without getting crushed? (lots of details in post)

[Erin125]

Hello, peeps! Sorry for the long, detailed post! This is a question that I know has been asked a lot, but I suppose I have some small nuances to add to get some advice on? I have 3 older hens who already live together in the main chicken coop, an EE, wyandotte (who is a UNITTT) and a cuckoo maran (who is also a UNITTT). The coop is from cutestcoops (the smallest on the website, for reference if you want), and is 4x4 feet, and has two roosting bars and two nesting boxes. One of the roosting bars sits a foot back and about a foot higher than the second, and the 3 hens sleep on the top one every single night. They are let out around 7am by an automatic door opener, so they'll just jump down and stand on the floor until it opens, where they go into the backyard to roam for the day (we live in an urban city surrounded by other neighbors).

My issue is this: I have 3 pullets who are about 9 weeks old, a lavender orpington, light brahma, and NH red, housed mostly exclusively in a dog crate inside my mud room for their first couple of weeks. They now have a covered, enclosed, smaller run to be in during the day, and I bring them inside to the dog crate to sleep at night around dusk, so all of the chickens have had consistent exposure to one another for at least 3 weeks. The dog crate is larger, and has a roosting bar in it, but they are getting too big for it quickly. I am worried about putting the pullets in with the hens though! When the big girls jump down could they accidentally crush the little ones? Is it too early to house them together? I am worried the pullets might also get attacked in the coop before being let out? My maran is really quite mean to my EE and mounts her and pecks her .

My alternative is that I have a smaller coop, an omlet eglu go, that I could use as a transition coop? I live in Texas, though, and was thinking of putting JUST the eglu coop inside my mudroom for the pullets to sleep in at night (it's getting insanely stinking hot here and I'm not sure the pullets can handle the night temps yet), then in a few months when they are bigger (and it cools down) to house everyone in the bigger coop outside? I'd love any and all advice! And please go easy, my chickens are more like pets to me, so I know that them sleeping in the mudroom is weird, but I lost a cochin to the heat last year and am paranoid now.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I wouldn't worry about the coop situation yet. The chicks have been out for 3 weeks but haven't been interacting with the adults if I'm reading correctly? Start there first - I'd want them to get along in the run before I'd considered cooping them together (where they'll have no place to escape to if needed).

Realistically your coop is small for integration, and if your measurements are correct, the roosts are too close together as well. Any photos of the set up? Any possibility of expanding the coop or moving the roosts?

 

[Ridgerunner]

@rosemarythyme I found the website.

https://cutestcoops.com/pages/shop-in-stock-coops

@Erin125 In spite of what they said, the 4x4 coop is not ideal for 5 to 8 chickens. Many chicken coop prefabricators double the carrying capacity of their coops in their advertising. Your coop should be great for your original three. You might be able to add three more of the same age since you are in Texas as your chickens should be able to be outside practically all day every day all year long. How big is your run and what does it look like?

Integrating chicks with older chickens can be challenging. Depending n what your run looks like I'd consider setting that Eglu up so the chickens could share the run during the day and sleep separately at night.

To handle the heat, provide a lot of shade and clean water. You might set up a way to mist them. I spray water on part of my run in the shade when it gets hot to cool it down.

 

[Erin125]

I wouldn't worry about the coop situation yet. The chicks have been out for 3 weeks but haven't been interacting with the adults if I'm reading correctly? Start there first - I'd want them to get along in the run before I'd considered cooping them together (where they'll have no place to escape to if needed).

Realistically your coop is small for integration, and if your measurements are correct, the roosts are too close together as well. Any photos of the set up? Any possibility of expanding the coop or moving the roosts?

So the big chickens free range my backyard (about 1/3 acre) and the little chickens are in the run that we built for them (6'x10'), so they've been interacting through a wire mesh fence or when we let the pullets free range with close supervision too. The coop is just where they are sleeping at night, or laying eggs during the day. Basically, the hens don't see the pullets and try to attack them, just when they see them eating or drinking, maybe pecking order type behavior? I will get some pictures when I get home!

 

[Erin125]

@rosemarythyme I found the website.

https://cutestcoops.com/pages/shop-in-stock-coops

@Erin125 In spite of what they said, the 4x4 coop is not ideal for 5 to 8 chickens. Many chicken coop prefabricators double the carrying capacity of their coops in their advertising. Your coop should be great for your original three. You might be able to add three more of the same age since you are in Texas as your chickens should be able to be outside practically all day every day all year long. How big is your run and what does it look like?

Integrating chicks with older chickens can be challenging. Depending n what your run looks like I'd consider setting that Eglu up so the chickens could share the run during the day and sleep separately at night.

To handle the heat, provide a lot of shade and clean water. You might set up a way to mist them. I spray water on part of my run in the shade when it gets hot to cool it down.

So, the coop is just for sleeping and day time egg laying, I have used it for 6 chickens in the past, which worked cause they free range my 1/3 acre back yard during the day. The three girls take up about 2/3 of the top roosting bar. We don't have a run for the big girls since the backyard is fenced in, we just built one for the pullets so they would have a safe space during the day and to use for integration. Would you still recommend more space?

Also yes, we have misters and fans, but at night when its 95 degrees, there's not a lot to do... :/

 

[rosemarythyme]

So the big chickens free range my backyard (about 1/3 acre) and the little chickens are in the run that we built for them (6'x10'), so they've been interacting through a wire mesh fence or when we let the pullets free range with close supervision too. The coop is just where they are sleeping at night, or laying eggs during the day. Basically, the hens don't see the pullets and try to attack them, just when they see them eating or drinking, maybe pecking order type behavior? I will get some pictures when I get home!

Ridgerunner addresses the coop above - it's cute but yes it's small for the number of birds, especially during integration when space can become a real factor.

As far as the face to face interaction time I'd want to see them to spend a little more time together, either all inside the run or out in the yard - yard would likely be safer as your run space is at max capacity with 6 birds. Basically I would want to know that they're mostly safe around the adults before I lock them up together.

Alternatively (and I don't know how predator proof your run is, or if you feel safe leaving the pop door open) you could put the chicks inside the coop but leave the pop door open or at least partially open, so the chicks have an escape avenue if the adults go after them at sunrise. I usually prop open my pop door with a brick for anywhere from 3-5 days to allow that, and if everyone looks good at that point then I fully close back up.

It's normal for the adults to resource guard (mine generally don't care about water, but guarding of food is pretty normal) but as long as the chicks aren't prevented from eating and drinking it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's normal for the adults to resource guard (mine generally don't care about water, but guarding of food is pretty normal) but as long as the chicks aren't prevented from eating and drinking it shouldn't be an issue.

So provide widely separated food and water stations so the older ones cannot guard them all.

I have used it for 6 chickens in the past,

Were they all the same age, hence no integration? Many of the recommendations on here are designed to greatly reduce your chances for problems. That does not mean you won't have problems if you follow them, just that your chances are better. It also does not mean you will have problems if you do not follow the recommendations. I violate some of them every year but get by because of the way I manage them and how my facilities are set up. I don't blindly follow ratios and square feet rules but I pay attention to them.

Would you still recommend more space?

I always want more space, even when you are not tight. That tight, you have no flexibility to deal with any issues that come up. I find the more I squeeze them the more behavioral issues I deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to deal with issues.

From what you have described and with the weather you have in Texas in winters you can probably make it work. I'd still set up that Eglu so the younger ones can sleep in there safely and let them range together during the day. Once you no longer have two separate flocks you can try putting them together with a reasonabled chance at success.

 

[Erin125]

Ridgerunner addresses the coop above - it's cute but yes it's small for the number of birds, especially during integration when space can become a real factor.

As far as the face to face interaction time I'd want to see them to spend a little more time together, either all inside the run or out in the yard - yard would likely be safer as your run space is at max capacity with 6 birds. Basically I would want to know that they're mostly safe around the adults before I lock them up together.

Alternatively (and I don't know how predator proof your run is, or if you feel safe leaving the pop door open) you could put the chicks inside the coop but leave the pop door open or at least partially open, so the chicks have an escape avenue if the adults go after them at sunrise. I usually prop open my pop door with a brick for anywhere from 3-5 days to allow that, and if everyone looks good at that point then I fully close back up.

It's normal for the adults to resource guard (mine generally don't care about water, but guarding of food is pretty normal) but as long as the chicks aren't prevented from eating and drinking it shouldn't be an issue.

Sorry, I wasn't able to get pictures last night, but here is what the set up looks like! Basically the big chickies get free run of the backyard and coop, and the little chickies are in this 6'x10' run during the day, and we will let them out to free range with the big chickens while we are supervising. You can see how close they all are and have had this interaction for at least 3 weeks. No fights or attacks, but the head hen does want to charge the little ones due to what appears resource guarding like you said. I forgot to get a picture of their dog crate inside so I can get that too, but it's just a dog kennel with flock fresh bedding, a roosting bar and food and water, about 2'x4'. They are only in the kennel for about an hour right before going to bed. I tried to show my hand for spacing of the roosting bars in the coop. Perhaps I can reangle them somehow?

 

[fuzzi]

Thought: that fan will be a future raging inferno.

Is there a way to attach/include the pullets' coop to their run?

 

[Erin125]

So provide widely separated food and water stations so the older ones cannot guard them all.


Were they all the same age, hence no integration? Many of the recommendations on here are designed to greatly reduce your chances for problems. That does not mean you won't have problems if you follow them, just that your chances are better. It also does not mean you will have problems if you do not follow the recommendations. I violate some of them every year but get by because of the way I manage them and how my facilities are set up. I don't blindly follow ratios and square feet rules but I pay attention to them.


I always want more space, even when you are not tight. That tight, you have no flexibility to deal with any issues that come up. I find the more I squeeze them the more behavioral issues I deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to deal with issues.

From what you have described and with the weather you have in Texas in winters you can probably make it work. I'd still set up that Eglu so the younger ones can sleep in there safely and let them range together during the day. Once you no longer have two separate flocks you can try putting them together with a reasonabled chance at success.

I will admit, I am an odd chicken tender, grew up extremely city slicker, but always loved animals and nature. So my journey hasn't been exactly.... traditional. I did a lot of research and had to learn and teach myself everything.

I started with two chicks about 4.5 years ago, then added 3 more about 5 months later. They all acclimated, but possibly more so because my silkie rooster (one of the two original chicks) was kind of a peace maker? We lost the head hen (RIP Gravy), and ended up getting 2 more chicks, the EEs, who were submissive and accepted into the flock pretty easily, also because my rooster was super gregarious to all chickens and kept the peace. If I remember correctly, I believe they went straight from the dog kennel to the big coop at around 3.5 months? Then, we lost another girl, the rooster, and then another girl. We were down to the 3 ladies pictured above (ages 4, 4, and 2), and decided to add these 3 more.

I wonder if my rooster was the magic key? But I too always want more space for my babies, that's why they range in the whole backyard, instead of a run or gate like we used to have. But I agree too, I absolutely don't want any issues in the coop at night or in the morning, so we will try out the eglu for a little bit first. Thanks so much for your replies!!