Integrating question

[Jdhite]

Hey gang! I'll get to the point. I have 15 feather legged females from McMurray in the brooder, 2 weeks of age. All are doing well. Anyway, I have 7 birds currently outside in the coop, all are right at 22 weeks old. 2 Cemani cockerels, and 5 hens of various breeds. So far the 7 outdoor birds seem to be getting along. Anyway, right now my plan to integrate the 15 pinger girls is this;

Build a run adjacent to the run with the 7 bigger birds. Put 15 smaller girls in the run with a tractor supply coop we got last year at 6-7 weeks. The coop is small, but would be fine until they get bigger. Once they get bigger and can no longer comfortably fit into the smaller coop, open the door between the two runs and let them co-mingle. My thought is that with all of them being able to see/interact through the fence for a month or two, that will hopefully help them get to know each other before they have full access to each other. How does this sound to everyone? Am I missing anything?

Thanks! Justin

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Hey gang! I'll get to the point. I have 15 feather legged females from McMurray in the brooder, 2 weeks of age. All are doing well. Anyway, I have 7 birds currently outside in the coop, all are right at 22 weeks old. 2 Cemani cockerels, and 5 hens of various breeds. So far the 7 outdoor birds seem to be getting along. Anyway, right now my plan to integrate the 15 pinger girls is this;

Build a run adjacent to the run with the 7 bigger birds. Put 15 smaller girls in the run with a tractor supply coop we got last year at 6-7 weeks. The coop is small, but would be fine until they get bigger. Once they get bigger and can no longer comfortably fit into the smaller coop, open the door between the two runs and let them co-mingle. My thought is that with all of them being able to see/interact through the fence for a month or two, that will hopefully help them get to know each other before they have full access to each other. How does this sound to everyone? Am I missing anything?

Thanks! Justin

It's a good plan! But additionally make sure the newbies have places to get away from bigs. I think people refer to it as yard garbage. Like an overturned chair, whatever you can manage that a little can get it but not a big. You can do this with the newbies run where you open it just big enough for a little to get out and back in. When you open everything up, The key is doing this part slowly. Meaning open up for an hour, then close back up. Open up for half a day, then close back up, etc. The more room they have, the easier this is. Have as much room as possible and several different food/water stations. Do the 7 free range at all? I never have problems with yearly integration because my existing flock is always so busy free ranging, it's when they come back to the coop/run that they interact with the newbies. I do what you're doing with a separation fence and coop making 2 flocks who can interact through the fence only. Then open it up supervised for an hour or so. Then more, etc. Once the newbies catch on to free-ranging all is peaceful. I supervise the first few nights roosting together too but they have so much roosting room that's a fast transition. It really is beneficial to have way more space than is recommended.

 

[Jdhite]

It's a good plan! But additionally make sure the newbies have places to get away from bigs. I think people refer to it as yard garbage. Like an overturned chair, whatever you can manage that a little can get it but not a big. You can do this with the newbies run where you open it just big enough for a little to get out and back in. When you open everything up, The key is doing this part slowly. Meaning open up for an hour, then close back up. Open up for half a day, then close back up, etc. The more room they have, the easier this is. Have as much room as possible and several different food/water stations. Do the 7 free range at all? I never have problems with yearly integration because my existing flock is always so busy free ranging, it's when they come back to the coop/run that they interact with the newbies. I do what you're doing with a separation fence and coop making 2 flocks who can interact through the fence only. Then open it up supervised for an hour or so. Then more, etc. Once the newbies catch on to free-ranging all is peaceful. I supervise the first few nights roosting together too but they have so much roosting room that's a fast transition. It really is beneficial to have way more space than is recommended.

Mine don't currently free range, but I might start letting them out into the backyard when the dogs are up. That will open up a half acre or so to them. As enclosed runs and coops, I'll have two coops, the one smaller tsc (can house 6 big birds comfortably) and then our large homemade coop that has 24 horizontal ft of roosting space, and ample interior area. We don't close the coop at night (run and surrounding fence is built like a tank and predator proof) so there won't ever be a time when they're confined inside the coop. Yard space is roughly 700sqft.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Mine don't currently free range, but I might start letting them out into the backyard when the dogs are up. That will open up a half acre or so to them. As enclosed runs and coops, I'll have two coops, the one smaller tsc (can house 6 big birds comfortably) and then our large homemade coop that has 24 horizontal ft of roosting space, and ample interior area. We don't close the coop at night (run and surrounding fence is built like a tank and predator proof) so there won't ever be a time when they're confined inside the coop. Yard space is roughly 700sqft.

That will really help! Even if it's temporary for the integration process, allowing them to free-range together at first makes the process so much easier. Good Luck!!

 

[imacowgirl2]

I personally prefer to integrate younger— younger chicks are fast and can squeeze into small areas that big chickens can’t, but if you wait until they are closer to same size, it’s much harder to create places that the little ones can get to that the big ones can’t. I build an area inside the existing coop for the littles, and leave them in the fenced off area for 1-2 weeks. I then open my “chick doors” (this time it was snow fencing up of the ground a bit…last time it was little holes cut into plastic “hardware cloth”) when the bigs are outside (I lock my bigs out of the coop for this part) so the chicks can start to learn how to come out and how to get back in. I give them a couple hours each day to figure this out, and after a few days, I “scare” them (by just trying to pick one up) while they are out in the main coop to see if they run in to the chick doors when they feel threatened. As soon as they reliably run through the chick doors for safety I stop locking the hens out of the coop when I open the chick doors, and supervise closely the first few times. I continue to lock them up at night until I’m 100% confident they are diving for cover every time a hen goes after them.

This method does require plenty of chick safe areas…I use upside down cheap laundry baskets:

As the chicks get bigger and the hens start to completely ignore them (as seen by the chicks no longer using the cover), I start to remove of the extra cover.

I’ve successfully fully integrated multiple batches of chicks into the main flock by 3 weeks old using this method, and will never integrate at older age unless I run into a specific situation that requires it. That being said, this method does require plenty of room in the coop, so isn’t possible for everyone…but if it is possible I highly recommend it.

 

[imacowgirl2]

These guys are almost 4 weeks old and for the most part, they stay out of the hens way and the hens ignore them. They think they are hot stuff now that they figured out how to go up the ramp to the roost bars…

 

[Jdhite]

These guys are almost 4 weeks old and for the most part, they stay out of the hens way and the hens ignore them. They think they are hot stuff now that they figured out how to go up the ramp to the roost bars…
View attachment 3398640

That's awesome! Are they fully feathered? I'm in NC, and as early as it is, am hesitant to move them out until they have all their feathers.

 

[imacowgirl2]

That's awesome! Are they fully feathered? I'm in NC, and as early as it is, am hesitant to move them out until they have all their feathers.

Nope…their mama heating pad is the wood frame thing you see on the back left of the picture under one of the baskets. I will slowly remove heat as they are fully feathered. Our temps have been ranging from low 20’s with some dips into the teens all the way up to mid 40’s since these guys were hatched.

 

[Mrs. K]

I agree with imacowgirl2 - chicks are a lot tougher than one thinks - I get mine in between 3-4 weeks. A lot of chicks running around are hard to catch. I have a pallet laid horizontally just a few inches above the ground in the middle of the run. I have a shelter that is blocked off with an old crib spring, open 3-4 inches from the ground.

With in a week, they are all fine. I do have mine sleep in a dog crate with insulation to keep them warm.

There are a lot of ways to do this.

Mrs K