Integration; phase one complete . . .what's next?

[redinator]

Your overall plan is solid. My concern with integration is always space. Your "safe haven" plan can certainly help with that. Hopefully it is enough.


When a chicken is trying to kill another chicken they usually try to peck the head to drill a hole through to the brain. If one is trapped in a corner or against a wall or fence, it often tries to lay down and cover its head. If the attacked continues to try to peck, I'd intervene quickly.

My thinking was it'd be easier to manage/intervene in a smaller area, but I see what you're saying.

I could continue having the older chicks free ranging and younger chicks in the run for a couple of weeks until the RIR are 6 weeks (when they're larger than snack size) and I'd be more comfortable letting them all free range together. At 4 weeks they just seem a bit too small in comparison to 'hope for the best'.

ETA: The idea to wait until the RIR are 6 weeks could work out better. By then I'll have a better idea of which are males and have them separated into the two side yards to grow out.

 

[redinator]

You know what they say about the best laid plans, well . . . lol.

This process worked great with a few tweaks. I never got around to replacing the hinged doors on the chick pen with hardware cloth and the chickens had other plans.

After the first week of letting the littles in the run while the older chicks free ranged I started letting the older chicks back in the run while the little were still loose and I stood and supervised with a shrub rake in hand. No, I did not beat them with it, it was just an extension of my hand in case things went off the rails and I needed to intervene quickly.

I spread feed on the ground from one end of the run to the other and observed. When a little would stick their head in the pile of feed the older chicks were eating they got a telling off and I didn't intervene. The only time I would intervene is if/when an older chick pursued the little after the little chick moved away. I would put the rake between the two chicks and give the older chick a bit of a shove back to their pile of feed. The older chicks learned to respect the rake after one or two shoves and I would only have to move it in their direction and they'd go back to their pile of feed.

I did this for roughly 10-15 minutes every evening before ushering the littles back to their pen for the night.

I planned to keep this up for about a week, but as things go with animals, plans have a way of changing. On the third day after the supervised feeding I put everyone to bed, closed the the door to the chick pen and went inside. The next morning I came out to find ALL of the chicks waiting for me at the gate to the run! I ran out expecting to find a few injured/dead chicks, but everyone was absolutely fine!

I opened the gate to the run and let them all free range (supervised) for about an hour then put the littles back in the run so the older chicks could get peace and sun/dust bathe.

I have two 15 week old cockerels and during this process I found out my top cockerel is going to make an awesome roo. He only disciplines the the little chicks when its warranted and keeps the second cockerel and the two older girls in check when they try to dominate the little chicks.

I love my flock!