Integrating young pullets with mature hens - what's the best age?

[sunshineacre]

Following this. We have three about the same age as your pullets and 5 hens. They are in the pen together but separate coops at night. Anxious to have them roost together but worried about a Plymouth Rock bully!

Grace
http://sunshineacre.com

 

[chickenlady1150]

Supervised mingling at ALL times during integration, even if it's just for a few minutes here and there. If the hens are ganging up, chicks could wind up severely injured or dead. They're still far too little to defend themselves and NEED you there. You should be the boss of your flock. I use my index finger just like they use their beaks. When one is getting too bossy with another, I poke her just as a higher up would peck her, not hard, just enough to make her move. Most of the time, I don't even make contact and they move away from whomever they're getting bossy with.

Thanks for the answer. That's what my husband suggested as well so I left them separated while I was at work. I stepped out long enough to feed the dog but that was obviously too long so now I will only do supervised...

How big do they need to be before they can defend themselves and be fully integrated? The crate for bedtime is going to be too small for them soon and I have no other way to separate them at night. The littles are 9 wks old and the bigs are 16 wks old so they are only 7 wks apart but that seems to be enough of a difference.

In hind sight I should have passed on the littles but didn't know anything about integrating and the feed store finally got the ones I really wanted so I bought them. When I bought the bigs the store had no idea if the breeder was sending the Welly Hybrids or not and I couldn't wait to get them due to vacation timing so I bought what they had at the time. I did research what they knew they were getting before they came in though. The bigs are as follows... 2 RIR's, 1 ISA Brown, 2 Barred Rocks, and 2 Austrolorps. We bought 2 of each but 1 of the ISA's turned out to be a roo so he is no longer with us. The littles were my preferred breed but I am happy with the others too.

 

[chickenlady1150]

Following this. We have three about the same age as your pullets and 5 hens. They are in the pen together but separate coops at night. Anxious to have them roost together but worried about a Plymouth Rock bully!

How do they do in the pen during the day? DO you have an issue with them being bullied?

 

[sunshineacre]

How do they do in the pen during the day? DO you have an issue with them being bullied?

They do well though my plymouth rock just snaps and bullies out of the blue. The pullets just scatter and ignore her. Last night I removed the rock from the coop and let the pullets sleep in there with the other big girls. I will do that for a few nights and then eventually let the rock back in!

Grace
http://sunshineacre.com

 

[islandgirl82]

They do well though my plymouth rock just snaps and bullies out of the blue. The pullets just scatter and ignore her. Last night I removed the rock from the coop and let the pullets sleep in there with the other big girls. I will do that for a few nights and then eventually let the rock back in!

Grace
http://sunshineacre.com

Removing the bully is a wise choice. It will mix up the pecking order and hopefully settle her down when she rejoins. Just be sure to keep an eye on the rest of your hens and their treatment of the pullets. Your PBR may actually be keeping everyone in line, not just the pullets.

 

[chickenlady1150]

Well this evening I let the littles have the run while the bigs free ranged in the back yard. Then the bigs went back in while I sat in a chair with a squirt bottle. Whenever the bigs went after the littles they got a squirt. It worked really well actually so that's promising.

When bed time came and the littles tried to climb the ladder into the coop the bigs chased them right back down. After what seemed like forever the bigs finally went to bed and then we put the littles in on the side roost. They settled in where we put them and all is quiet. I plan to get up before the sun to avoid any early morning squabbles and hopefully all is well then too. Hoping that this integration will hurry up and be done with. It feels like it's taking forever and not getting very far.

I'll let you know how tomorrow morning goes...

 

[chickenlady1150]

Good news...

I got up and had their door open by 5:15 this morning. The girls didn't start stirring until 5:45 and then it was only the bigs who didn't even seem to notice the littles. The littles wouldn't get off their roost so after about 5 minutes I got each one down and put them on the floor of the coop, then waited another 10 minutes. They paced at the window but wouldn't come outside so I pushed them out one by one. They went straight for the food and water under the coop while the bigs were distracted in the run. Again, I was sitting in my chair in the run with my squirt bottle, and coffee of course

The bigs were pretty good and gave a few pecks which I let go but if they got too rough I gave them a squirt and they would stop and run away. I needed to come inside to feed the dog and refill my coffee so when the littles went to their side of the run I used the opportunity to close the fence.

I will open it up later when I am out there close by so I can supervise. I have some work to do in the backyard so I'll be close. It's supposed to be in the mid 90's today which means my backyard will hit over 100 so I'll do it early and then again this evening after it starts to cool off. We have misters going thru the heat of the day and I'm going to make some ice blocks for them too. They have plenty of shade and water as well.

I am optimistic about the littles not being crated at night as they are really too big for the crate now. I'm just hoping that the bigs will start letting them go to bed without my intervention.

Here's hoping we are on our way to full integration without bloodshed or too much trauma

I just need to be patient and not try to rush it which is easier said than done...

 

[aart]

@chickenlady1150 multiple feed/water stations can really help.

 

[lazy gardener]

Everyone has such splendid advice! I have 5, 6 month old hens and 2 3 month old pullets that are currently in quarantine (and will be until the end of the month.)I was wondering how I should inrotduce my Littles to my established flock mid July.

My Littles are currently in thier mobile quarantine run and I was planning on moving it over next to my big girls run for a couple of weeks so they could get used to each other before adding the Littles and hoping they can fend for themselves.

Would it be a good idea to add one of the lower ranking hens from my flock in with the Littles, add them.in while they free range or add them in the coop at night so the girls "don't notice" that they have new flock members?

Any help others suggestions would be wonderful!

Do you ever let your flock out for free range? That's an excellent time to have the first mingling. Toss a bit of scratch on the ground before they go to bed for the night, and let both groups out. As others have said, supervision at first is a must. The sooner you can quarantine the better. How big is your coop and run? dimensions, please.

 

[islandgirl82]

@chickenlady1150 multiple feed/water stations can really help.

I second this statement. A bossy bird will guard the food and water but they can't be in multiple places at once. Your littles may be getting more exercise running between feeders/waterers but they'll at least have access.