Integration of pullets to layers has begun! Advise please!

[Linnre]

Today is one week of the 3 little chickens and 3 laying hens sharing a coop. They have roosted together each night and that part is going to well now (after a couple of nights of getting pecked for being on the wrong roost).

The big girls still chase the littles if they come down and they are all together. We leave town in a little over a week. I had been putting them all together at night and separating in the day but the last two days I’ve left them all together for a good bit of time each day. Is it better to leave them together more now so that they’ll get used to each other? When will the big girls stop chasing and scaring the littles? The littles are now 10 1/2 weeks. They’ll be close to 12 weeks when we leave. (I will have neighbors check on them and let the big girls out some each day).

When all together, the littles will end up staying up in the coop most of the time. They venture down until they are chased back up again. Food and water are in the run. Part of the run is under the coop (with food and water there as well in the attached run) and that is often where they will stay when down.

Do we seem to be doing this right? Originally I was going to have the neighbors put the chicks in a playpen during the day but they are just too hard to catch to put back in the coop at this point. More training to do!! So I decided to have the neighbors put the big girls in the playpen (around noon, after eggs are laid) and leave the littles in the coop during the day.

*For any who are interested, scroll back for a picture of the new playpen. Also, that little hutch that was in the run is no longer there.

 

[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!

 

[Linnre]

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!

Thanks so much!! It’s felt like a full time job getting them to this point. I hope one day they’ll all be friends!

 

[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.