Integration help!

[ANiceKaren]

Hi everyone! Since rehoming my rooster I’ve been able to finally introduce my older pullets to my younger ones via free ranging. They are doing very well in the yard together. There are still some light pecks and chasing but they free range for hours together with little issues. My question is this...how in the heck do I get them to be okay in the run and coop together. Currently they are sleeping in separate coops and I don’t leave alone together in their run. Any help in fully integrating them in those areas? They have had parallel runs for over a month as well. I’m so nervous to leave them alone in coop and run! Help!

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

What age are your pullets?

 

[ANiceKaren]

What age are your pullets?

The older girls are almost 20 weeks and younger are close to 12 weeks

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

They should be okay to integrate in the coop and run only at that point. Make sure there are multiple food and water stations and plenty of places to hide that they can't get cornered in or placed to get up and away. Check on them often to make sure no one has been cornered and picked on relentlessly. You can take them and put them up in their original pen at night for a while or until they go up on the perches in the coop at night. Once you have them in for the night in the coop make sure you wake up early to check up on them and let them out. Can I ask how many of each age group you have?

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

And how big your coop and run is?

 

[ANiceKaren]

They should be okay to integrate in the coop and run only at that point. Make sure there are multiple food and water stations and plenty of places to hide that they can't get cornered in or placed to get up and away. Check on them often to make sure no one has been cornered and picked on relentlessly. You can take them and put them up in their original pen at night for a while or until they go up on the perches in the coop at night. Once you have them in for the night in the coop make sure you wake up early to check up on them and let them out. Can I ask how many of each age group you have?

Thanks for your help!! My problem is my older girls got used to one coop and younger ones got used to the other coop... the coop the younger girls are in is much bigger and better..should I just put big girls in the coop even if they aren’t used to it? I supppse it doesn’t matter where they sleep as long as they are safe right? I have two of each... 2 20 week old and 2 12 week olds. I posted some pics of their sizes below

 

[ANiceKaren]

And how big your coop and run is?

The total area is about 20x 20’. The coop the bigger girls is small! One of those prefab coops bit they love to sleep in it. Other coop is pretty good size.. I’ll post pics below

 

[aart]

Are both coops open the the 20x20 run?
Just close off the smaller coop.
Tho the larger coop appears to be rather open?
Maybe a pic from farther back would be good.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I supppse it doesn’t matter where they sleep as long as they are safe right?

That's my attitude. As long as mine are not sleeping in the nests and are predator safe they can sleep where they want.

I find that my younger brooder-raised pullets usually don't sleep on the main roosts with the older ones until they are all laying. Until then the older ones tend to not let the younger sleep on the roosts with them. I'm using weasel words like "usually" and "tend" on purpose because there can be exceptions. There always can be exceptions and your situation is different to mine so we can expect to get different results. But still, in general my young don't sleep on the main roosts with the others. If you put them together in that larger coop where will the younger ones sleep if the older ones won't allow them on the roost?

During the day my younger ones tend to stay in a sub-flock. They avoid the older ones because they might get pecked if they invade the personal space of the older ones. Again there can be exceptions but in general they stay apart. I'm fine with that. My definition of a successful integration is than none get hurt. It's that simple, as long as none get hurt they can work the rest out later. And they will as they mature. I let them work that out in their terms and at their pace. The more room they have the better.

One possible issue I see with yours is where are the older ones going to lay if they haven't started yet. Where do you want them to lay? With your current arrangements that might be the smaller coop. I don't know where they will lay if you try to block off the nests in the smaller coop.

I'm not exactly sure what your goals are, what you want to accomplish. I think eventually you want them all in the same coop, probably the larger one. I suggest as much as you can let them work that out. You can try putting them together in there after dark, it might be pretty easy. If I tried that I'd be down there at daybreak to see how it is going when they wake up. After mine have ranged together for a month or so that's how I do it. It's never been a problem but my coop is bigger than yours and laid out differently. I also have a lot more than four chickens. You don't know how it will go until you try.

Good luck!

 

[Buffbrahmasforever]

Thanks for your help!! My problem is my older girls got used to one coop and younger ones got used to the other coop... the coop the younger girls are in is much bigger and better..should I just put big girls in the coop even if they aren’t used to it? I supppse it doesn’t matter where they sleep as long as they are safe right? I have two of each... 2 20 week old and 2 12 week olds. I posted some pics of their sizes below

Putting the big girls in the younger girls coop is actually a better option. One of the main reason the older girls peck and chase off the younger ones is because of territory and resources. But when you put them in the younger girls coop and there are plenty of food and water resources they have no reason to defend anything. I have put older girls in with 8-12 week old babies in a coop that the babies had been raised in and there where no fights. The number of younger birds to older birds was more but the space was smaller. Put the older girls in there. Make sure they have multiple sources of food and water. And are secured and have there basic needs fulfilled. Watch them carefully just in case. Close of the older girls coop. If you free range them, put them back in the younger girls coop at night if the decide to perch somewhere on their old coop like mine did.