Integration of pullets to layers has begun! Advise please!

[Linnre]

Last night I put both sets of chickens (3 9 week pullets with 3 grown laying hens) in the run and closed the doors. It’s their first time being together with no escape. I felt I was cruel to do this but I also read it has to happen. No one was set out to kill the little ones, I don’t think. There was no blood. But there was traumatizing and chasing and probably some pecking. We go on a trip in 3 weeks. I kept them together maybe 30 min while watching. A couple of times the littles escaped to the coop upstairs and the bigs did not follow. The last time (meaning they all came down from the coop again) all but one escaped to the coop and she could not figure how to get up there. In the end she was standing in a corner, facing the corner and would not move. We then separated and put the littles in their small coop for the night.

Did I do the right thing? The wrong thing? It was a pleasant night and I put them together around 7:15 and sat and watched. It was hard for me to watch. IF I did the right thing, should I keep doing the same each day for a short period of time? Should I not?

These chickens have been able to see each other for 5 weeks, in separate coops and also in playpens with the older ones coming near. They’ve been in the yard together at times for about a week now, always supervised. They already know each other. But not in this close quarters.

I feel trying to prepare these chicks to be together and in time for my upcoming trip has become a full time job!

I did have places for them to hide but not completely away. Today I plan to put a dog crate with no floor in the coop and tilt it up some so they can go under and have a safer place to escape.

I just need some reassurance (if appropriate) or to be told if I need to change the approach. I love these new babies and don’t want to do it wrong.

To see my coop I pasted pics here. I realize now that it is narrow but I have to make do with what I have. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/integrating-chicks-before-12-weeks.1538361/

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I just need some reassurance (if appropriate) or to be told if I need to change the approach.

I feel like you're doing everything right. Everyone does this a bit differently but I think most people follow your same slowish approach. My neighbor just tosses them in and wishes them the best.... But ah, he goes through flocks like water. I'm with you.... All of that said, it's good to remember that the more room they have, especially if you can allow some free-ranging, it is VERY helpful.

 

[Linnre]

Oh excellent, you're in great shape. Except for coming back to lay, the big's will not have as much interest in bullying and fighting for space with the little's as they would confined.

Thank you! This is so good to hear! We are trying hard and my husband has been so good to keep up with my ideas! Working on the playpen now, with an audience!

 

[azygous]

Quick story. When I was a young mother, back when the earth was warming after the last ice age, I decided it would be advantageous to get my three toddlers swimming lessons. The two older ones, ages three and four, took to the water like little motor boats, but the two-year old was another story.

The instructor decided the most efficient way to encourage the boy's interest in swimming was to toss him into the deep end, where he promptly sank to the bottom and appeared content to lie there until the instructor, who only had one leg, dove down to retrieve him.

The toss-them-in-and-hope-for-the-best method may seem like an acceptable shortcut in many learning situations, but an incremental approach, I've decided, often works better. You are definitely on to this latter approach with the dog crate safe refuge idea. Go for it.

By the way, the two-year old never did respond to the swimming lessons. He taught himself to swim later on when he was around six if memory serves me. Which lately, it often does not.

 

[KelseyBoxer]

You are doing a great job! The flock will calm down and get along better after your young ones start to lay. I have found that everyone gets along better after they share the egg song together. Even my 16 week old cockerel gets into the act. His voice cracks and it is so funny to hear!

 

[azygous]

@KelseyBoxer is quite right. After the pullets reach point of lay the harassment usually all but ends. Until then, it's a hard and fast rule of Chicken World that pullets-must-be-chased.

I have four ten-week olds right now that are undergoing this right of passage. They are on their own to fend for themselves in the pecking order except at mealtime. I have a "jail" enclosure where they eat their meal in peace so as to get all the nourishment their still growing bodies require. They are so used to this routine that all four pullets know to race to the "jail" and meet me there as I dish out their fermented feed twice a day.

In the past, when the "jail" has been occupied by a sick or disabled chicken, I feed the pullets on a drop-shelf at the end of the run high above the ground where they would eat in peace.

 

[Linnre]

@KelseyBoxer is quite right. After the pullets reach point of lay the harassment usually all but ends. Until then, it's a hard and fast rule of Chicken World that pullets-must-be-chased.

I have four ten-week olds right now that are undergoing this right of passage. They are on their own to fend for themselves in the pecking order except at mealtime. I have a "jail" enclosure where they eat their meal in peace so as to get all the nourishment their still growing bodies require. They are so used to this routine that all four pullets know to race to the "jail" and meet me there as I dish out their fermented feed twice a day.

In the past, when the "jail" has been occupied by a sick or disabled chicken, I feed the pullets on a drop-shelf at the end of the run high above the ground where they would eat in peace.

That is a good point about making sure they get their nourishment. I could put one of the feeders in the coop where they spend a lot of time. I actually used to have all of the feed in the coop area until we learned better. They would still have to to down for water.
BUT if the big girls are out of the coop/run half of the day, they are able to get to food and water when they want during that time.

 

[azygous]

Maybe after your trip, you can look at ways to enlarge it. Wings coming off the main run or something. Chickens love complexity in their environment.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Quick story. When I was a young mother, back when the earth was warming after the last ice age, I decided it would be advantageous to get my three toddlers swimming lessons. The two older ones, ages three and four, took to the water like little motor boats, but the two-year old was another story.

The instructor decided the most efficient way to encourage the boy's interest in swimming was to toss him into the deep end, where he promptly sank to the bottom and appeared content to lie there until the instructor, who only had one leg, dove down to retrieve him.

The toss-them-in-and-hope-for-the-best method may seem like an acceptable shortcut in many learning situations, but an incremental approach, I've decided, often works better. You are definitely on to this latter approach with the dog crate safe refuge idea. Go for it.

By the way, the two-year old never did respond to the swimming lessons. He taught himself to swim later on when he was around six if memory serves me. Which lately, it often does not.

GREAT story! And I too haven't been a young mother since antiquity or maybe prohibition...

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Oh excellent, you're in great shape. Except for coming back to lay, the big's will not have as much interest in bullying and fighting for space with the little's as they would confined.