Integrating younger birds?

[HennaRose]

I have four chickens right now, only 9 weeks old, and they've been outside in the coop/run for a little more than a week. In August they'll be 6 months old, and I'll be getting another shipment of day-olds then. (I plan to keep three, but bought five in case of loss.) I had originally planned to keep the younger birds in the brooder until they were feathered and then move them outside with the older girls, but I've since learned that it's not recommended to put them together until the younger birds are about the same size as the older ones.

I can't feasibly keep my second brood in the garage for six months (by 6 *weeks* the current ones were roosting on my shelves and pecking each other when they were confined) and I don't have the space to set up a second coop/run area for the younger chicks because of where my garden plants are. Short of uprooting a chunk of my garden, what's the best way to integrate younger pullets into an established flock?

As far as space, I built my girls a 36 sqft walk-in coop. They've got 90sqft in their area now, including the coop, but by the time the new birds are old enough to go outside I'll have the entire garden fully fenced in and covered so they'll have about 450sqft to semi-free-range during the day.

 

[azygous]

All that is required to integrate smaller, younger birds with adult birds is a "panic room". This can be any small, temporary enclosure that the younger birds can find safe refuge inside and the adults can get in. Part of the reason you would wait until the younger ones are the same size as the adults is competition for food and water is such that the younger ones come out short too much of the time, and it could affect their growth.

Placing food and water where the smaller ones can get to it but the biggers can't solves this problem. The way to do this is to cut 5 x 7" holes in the panic room or raise the sides up just high enough for the smalls to scoot under, but the bigs can't fit.

By the time the younger birds no longer fit through the openings, they'll be big enough to handle competition with the adults.