integrating youngsters with older flock

[Speckled01]

The adults are 10 months old. We have 6 who are 5 weeks old and more who are younger. These 6 have been in a brooder box in a nursery area, separated from the adults. They just started going up and down out of the brooder box onto the roost floor. There is only a small area of screen between the nursery and they adults. the brooder box is totally enclosed, so I do not know how much the teens and the adults interact. This morning, I found number 7 of the teens. He or she had gotten into the adult side and was pecked to death, I let the adults out for the day. The rest of the teens were out of the brooder, huddled in a corner. They are generally perched on the side of the brooder box when I come into the nursery.
Any thoughts about what to do and how to integrate these birds and the ones that are needing to get out of the brooder boxes in the house and get to the barn nursery?

 

[PeepsCA]

They need to be able to be separated but able to see each other for about 6 wks (separated by wire, not a solid wall of wood), When you see no aggression from the older birds towards the younger birds thru the wire, you can start letting them mingle/integrate (supervised)... but you may need to step in and separate them again for a few more weeks.

Established, mature Guinea flocks usually do not willingly accept new additions without plenty of (separated) exposure, and will typically see new additions (no matter the age) as a threat to the flock and their position in the pecking order, so they will kill them... integration takes time and a lot of constant,but protected exposure, unless one of the Hens happens to hatch out a clutch they all accept the babies from day 1, then she will do the integration for you (but even then that's not a guarantee that the keets will be accepted).

 

[tomingreeneco]

You might try a large wire dog crate. Cover it with chicken wire and place the teens in it inside the coop. You may want to place some plywood on top of the cage so the teens do not get a poop shower.

 

[Speckled01]

Thank you, we were thinking of the dog crate solution last night. At the same time I was thinking what a pain in the butt it will be to keep clean. I am so hoping I can find someone to take this particular group. They are older and 6 weeks more inside would be a long time for them. I am also thinking of screening in the bottom of the door- cut out windows and moving the brooder closer to the screened area for viewing.. Had the older flock demonstrated better mothering like not loosing or crushing the keets, staying with their eggs, I would have let them do it themselves.

 

[NorthCoastChick]

I have babies around 7 weeks old (bought them as day olds but they were much older looking, so perhaps a few weeks older) in a 36x42 wire dog crate inside the pen. They were raised in a brooder until they started feathering out and moved outside. They live with a cochin/leghorn chick that was raised by a broody chicken but abandoned when it got older.
I separated them because I have only 3 chickens left including an aggressive leghorn rooster. Wanted to see his reaction to the babies.
Yesterday morning I found a keet with it's head through the crate wire and most of his neck/head pecked away, as well as some of the breast. I hate to say it, but that rooster was on his way out already, having harassed the two hens relentlessly and attempted to attack me a few times. So, with the rooster out of the picture, tonight I allowed the babies and the two hens to interact inside the pen.
The one hen (Kraienkoppe) was wary of them and tried to avoid them. The leghorn hen was not to be bullied by a bunch of babies and immediately grabbed at and pecked them on the neck if they were too close to her feed. She "disciplined" each of the guineas (3) but left Lucky (the cochin/leghorn x) alone.
The babies are in their crate tonight and the two hens will roost in the attached coop. Hoping tomorrow we can repeat the experiment without too much jostling for the pecking order by the leghorn hen. I hope I made the right decision getting rid of the rooster. Could the hen be the one who killed the keet?
Anyway, just my two cents...

 

[PeepsCA]

It's hard to say which bird killed the keet without seeing it happen, but if the rooster went after you... his days were numbered anyway, so ultimately you made a good decision there (IMO). Get a mellower rooster if you really need one. I'd keep an eye on the cranky Hen tho... and give the limited integration a while longer, with everybody locked up safe for the night. In the meantime the keets get older and bigger... and wiser. Soon they will be able to dodge the blows and fend for themselves.

 

[Speckled01]

My neighbor had to dispatch two of her roosters who were being aggressive. Lucky for me that has opened up space in her roost for the 19 itty bitties ( 2 week old) guineas. Since the teen got killed in the roost a couple of days ago, the remaining 6 now sit next to the wire between the adults and the nursery. They just watch. I have yet to see any of the adults even go to investigate. This weekend I am going to put the preteens in with the teens. I am either going to open a window in their brooder box and screen it in or split the barn brooder with screen to see how the teens do with them. Fingers crossed! Thank you to everyone who has shared.

 

[Speckled01]

Yesterday I split off the barn brooder so the pre teens could join the teens. I guess disrupting the brooder box upset the teens so much they did not come up to the box to roost as they have done every night since the door was opened. So, now I have teens who will lay down right next to the chicken wire that separates them from the older ones. The older ones do not seem to take any interest. The teens will back off when I come into the roost. That generally propels the older ones towards the chicken wire blocking off the nursery. So, I don't know if they are getting away from them or me. And now the pre teens who are too small to fly up and down from the brooder box to the ground have displaced the teens . I am thinking of gathering up the teens and putting them in their side of the brooder box so they can get a look at the new birds and vice versa. This is all so frustrating.

 

[PeepsCA]

Guineas hate change (and yes they can be frustrating at times, especially for that particular reason, lol)... they will readjust, eventually. Their natural instinct is to roost up high, so they won't be on the floor for ever since they already know how/where to roost... but your idea of putting them back in their side of the brooder for a while might help them readjust a little quicker.

 

[tomingreeneco]

Thank you, we were thinking of the dog crate solution last night. At the same time I was thinking what a pain in the butt it will be to keep clean. I am so hoping I can find someone to take this particular group. They are older and 6 weeks more inside would be a long time for them. I am also thinking of screening in the bottom of the door- cut out windows and moving the brooder closer to the screened area for viewing.. Had the older flock demonstrated better mothering like not loosing or crushing the keets, staying with their eggs, I would have let them do it themselves.

Many of the crates have a pan the you can slide out without opening the door. Use pine shavings in the pan, slide out too clean, replace with more shavings.