Integration- day one went so well, how long do I wait?

My1stChickens

Songster
10 Years
May 16, 2015
269
222
211
Texas, USA
I have 5 littles that have completed quarantine. Two are 4 mos old, the other 3 are just 3 months. They were purchased from the same pen of about 30 babies and quarantined together for the past 5 weeks. The oldest hens are now both crowing (yikes) but they are still pretty civilized.

I divided my 11x13 coop into roughly halves, with water and roosts on each side. The side with the nesting boxes is for the existing two hens. Once they leave the coop to the adjoining 35x60 run, they are separated by 4' fencing, but each area has a small coop, shade, food, water.

So last night after dark, I moved the littles to the roost in their half of the coop. Returned at dawn, to lots of crowing (argh) and everyone came down to eat. My older hens were not as interested in breakfast as usual, so I proceeded to let them out, then rearranged the fence panels so the littles went to their area. It was like they had studied for the test! They ate, drank, dust bathed, napped, later in the day we had cold fruit treats. One of the hens did pace the fence to keep an eye on them, but there was ZERO fighting through the fence. The lil roos did hop around at each other for a few minutes, but no physical contact.

It took a bit to herd the little back in- which is to be expected. At dusk they put themselves on the roost. Part of me feels like I wasted a LOT of time dividing the coop and putting up temporary fence. This was a NON EVENT. It's tempting to just let them out tomorrow, but I wondered if it's better to be just a little cautious and give it another day to be sure? Words of wisdom?

PS- side topic, I know I need to address the roos. I think the breeder will take them back-- but I think she will simply process them and I struggle a bit. But that's for another post.
 
Do not take down the fence! Fences have a magical property that make it appear as though birds will get along. You created a very thoughtful setup for the two groups to live alongside each other. Keep it going for another week or two, and then slowly test the groups together. If you search the forums for integration, you'll find some good tips on run clutter, escape options for the smaller chicks, etc. Better to play a slow game and avoid injuries or unnecessary stress on the flock (or you!)
 
thanks for your input! I do have one that escaped into the big girls side and they were happily chickening together without drama but I reseparated as soon as I realized what had happened. And last night, one baby snuck between temp dividers and netting, and was on the roost with the old hens. All content but I moved her back anyway. I'm fortunate to have the space to do this. The next hurdle is finding an option I can live with for the two oldest baby hens, who are CROWING

we are set for some really hot days, so maybe best to stay the course when the weather will already be stressing them
 
I had my little ones in the run for 2 weeks before putting them together. They still fought a lot when put together. I'd leave them separated for at least a week before putting them together.
 
Normally I'd advise 1-2 weeks but if you have time and are willing to babysit, you could try letting them into a shared space and seeing how they react. You certainly have a huge coop and run for the number of birds, which helps mitigate issues.
 

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