Integration: Put the littles with the middles or the middles with the big kids??

[hellomrs0]

Hi, For background: I always do a January hatch to help insure new layers in our HOT summers while older girls are taking a break. I also gave a broody 5 chicks 6 weeks ago. I have 3 pens, a little pen for mamas and babies or babies w/o a mama, an intermediate pen for growing out or breeding and a large pen for everyone else. I have 26 adult hens and two roosters. I also have 9 two week old chicks and 5, six week old chicks.

So my January hatch is fine inside our house ATM but growing. They are 2 weeks old right now and by 3 weeks I am planning to move them to the little pen/coop with a brooder plate. At that point the chicks that I gave to the broody will be 7 weeks old and they are currently living in the small coop/pen so the littlest will potentially displace them. The birds in the middle pen will be almost 6 mos. My question is...would you put the 3 week old chicks in with the 7 week olds or move the 7 week olds in with the almost 6 mo olds? Alternatively I could just move the 7 week olds into the big pen with the adults. It is big enough, their are hiding places and I would provide additional water and food so the mean girls couldn't starve or dehydrate them.

Any wisdom will be appreciated esp if it is backed by first hand knowledge. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Chookwagn]

Littles in with middles..... give them something the littles can hide under if needs be.
Doing it in the dark also helps

Please dont put 7 week olds in with 6 month olds.... I learnt from doing it that it doesn't turn out well at all.

Hope this helps

 

[kattabelly]

Please dont put 7 week olds in with 6 month olds.... I learnt from doing it that it doesn't turn out well at all.

Really depends on the birds and the space they're in. I've done it successfully and I'd probably choose to do it that way again because the amount of heat, shelter and space in general that 7-week-olds require is closer to 6-month-olds than it is to chicks that are just 3 weeks old.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is the broody hen still raising those chicks? If she hasn't weaned them yet I'd put them all in with the adults and see if she will manage integration for you. Personally I'd have tried that as soon as I was sure she had accepted the chicks. I'd supervise, of course, but you say they have a lot of room, it should work if she is still raising them..

I have 26 adult hens and two roosters. I also have 9 two week old chicks and 5, six week old chicks.

The birds in the middle pen will be almost 6 mos.

Can the chickens see each other in separate pens? That could really help integration.

As long as those chicks need the brooder plate I'd keep them separate. I don't know how cold you are getting but I'd have concerns with them.

Why haven't you tried moving the almost 6 months old's in with the adults? Are there cockerels in with them so you are worried about the roosters? Are the pullets laying yet? To me that would seem the logical move, especially if the pullets are laying.

My goal in integration is that no one gets hurt. I don't worry about them eating and drinking from the same sources or sleeping together, that will come with time. If you have a lot of room you should be able to make it work. Nothing wrong with them staying in the same pen but separate.

I don't raise them separately the way you seem to so it's hard for me to make too many suggestions. I'd have all but the 2-week-olds together by now. I'm sure there are some details I don't know that are influencing your thinking. But just try something and pay attention. See if it works.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Really depends on the birds and the space they're in. I've done it successfully and I'd probably choose to do it that way again because the amount of heat, shelter and space in general that 7-week-olds require is closer to 6-month-olds than it is to chicks that are just 3 weeks old.

We did the same. There was a fair amount of drama at first, especially from the lowest ranking older girl, but time and a Nerf squirt gun worked well. They're all pretty integrated now.