Integration Taking Longer Than Hoped - Getting Fed Up

[brooky]

Hi All,

We have three chickens in quite a big run. On Saturday 31st March we got two 17 week old pullets which we put in the run separated off so they can see but not touch.

After two days we put them all in together with a seperate area with food and water. There is a bit of chasing and squabbling but nothing drastic. The others sit in the doorway of the hutch like bouncers and won't let the littles ones in at night. They then start getting a bit stressed because it is dark so we put them in close it all up and it is fine aside from maybe a peck or two. I check their crops which are full so they are definitely eating well.

In the morning we open it up and they get picked on immediately and chased out the hutch by the others. I'm forver finding them sitting in the hutch to stay out of trouble but do put them on the ground every now and again to try and get them involved.

We are five days in now and there is no sign of improvement at all. We are going to get fed up of putting them in at night soon and we feel we can't go out in the evening.

I know there are 101 threads about this but am I doing things correctly? Will it calm down and after how long should I remove the dominant chicken to bring her down a peg or two for a couple of days. I never knew it would be such a stress.

 

[chookhead]

yeajust leave them in the run for a long time together where they can touch and in the afternoon then let them out to free range so they have space to avoid each other but still see each other
they will sort it out lol

 

[brooky]

Meanies!!! Ha.. this is what I keep coming out the house to find.... Poor litte things.

 

[silkiechicken]

That picture looks normal to me...

May take a week, may take a month. Get in the way to "help" the new ones and it'll just take longer and longer.

Let the old ones have at it with the young ones. Young ones will figure out how not to give eye contact to the older ones and will have their day to bully youngins when you get new ones. Just toss in an extra food/water station and as long as they get a few bites to eat, don't worry about it.

They are penned, so that does tend to make it harder for the younger ones to get away.

 

[brooky]

One tried to venture into the hutch on its own tonight and ended up with its face in a beak. LOL. Horrible creatures... Anyhow we shoved them in and closed the door.

Thanks for advice I'll watch from a distance tomorrow and make sure there is plenty of food. Fingers crossed. One night we won't be here to put them in at night. The poultry center told us it would take a couple of days max.

 

[silkiechicken]

The slight challenge in your intergration may be due to your small coop. If I am putting the young ones into the layer house, all I have to do is not open the grow out coop, and the young ones will follow the old ones to the big coop to roost, with at most a few days of throwing them in there. However, the layer coop was historically an 8x8 tractor style coop and now a 8x6 floored coop. Within these coops, there is lots of space to escape sharp beaks of adults. I'd imagine in your coop, with the two new ones scrunched on one side, and the older ones perched on the best spots, they are still within a few flaps and body lengths of the elders. It'll take time, that's all.