Integration went well, but. . .

[Judy]

All my chickens were raised together or else were hatched and raised by one of their own, within the flock. There are 3 groups of them; they sleep in the same coop but in different areas of it. Sometimes they hang around as one group during the day, and sometimes they are in three groups in different areas. Sometimes who is in each group even varies. They are free range.

Chicken society is what it is, and they will do what they want to do. As long as there is no bloodshed, I don't believe in messing with it -- most of the time they will do as they lease anyway.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm in the Ddawn camp. They will mix if and when they want to.

Until they are truly mature don't expect them to mix socially. How often do you see high school senior girls hanging out at the mall with high school freshmen girls, and the seniors usually don't even physically attack the freshmen that often, not like chickens? Once they are mature, don't be surprised to see them hanging out all together sometimes, in the groups they were raised with sometimes, and in totally different combinations sometimes. If they are not hurting each other, I don't see the problem.

 

[Long Last Farm]

I have four different "gangs" of chickens of differing ages peacefully cohabitating in a large coop and run, with free ranging at least half the day.

The oldest are two 27 week-old BLRW hens ( who are NOT laying eggs yet) They are the "Grand Dames"of the bunch--if chickens can be dignified, they are!

Next are my seven 24 week old bunch. One New Hampshire rooster, 3 New Hampshire Hens, and three EE hens). I believe all of the hens in this bunch are laying

My next youngest bunch are 18 weeks old. all pullets- 4 Welsummers, 3 Cuckoo Maran, and one EE. None of these are laying yet.

Finally, the youngest group at 11 weeks old One EE rooster, and 6 EE pullets ( although one of these "gals" may be a guy...

)

I integrated them by letting them see each other, share a divided pen, having the latest "newbies" sleep in a cage inside the coop, etc.
There was some chasing and minor pecking each time, but overall, each time I added a new group, it went well.

They do tend to stay with their own age group, even when free ranging. But, as someone else mentioned, it makes it easier to do a head count anyway...

Believe it or not, they are most likely to "mingle" when going to roost at night. We have some in the rafters, and some on the ladder roost, and they seem more "blended" at night. One of the 11 week old recently "graduated" to sleeping in the rafters, and she seem accepted by all in the "penthouse"

 

[donnavee]

My big girls are 1 1/2 yrs old and the young girls are 6mo. I have had them together for a few months now, but they didn't start mingling until about a month ago when the young ones started laying eggs. The big ones are still in charge, but finally I see some group dust bathing and hanging out together. Congrats on your success!

 

[curliet]

In the past few years we've integrated about 4 different groups together. The first chicks that we got were a mix of Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds, and all the same age, less than a week old. They were all raised together, but even now, the 2 BRs will most of the time be off together somewhere. They do get along great with all the rest tho. We added some Spanish Andalucians, and they integrated with no trouble, but also stuck together. There were also a few Guineas that we added to the mix, and while they ate and slpt together, they pretty much ignored the chickens. Last Spring we hatched some eggs, and now those chickens are part of the group, again, spending most of their ranging time together, but still in close contact with the whole flock. Right now I have 3 young chickens, no longer chicks, but still not mature. We'll be blending them soon, but it looks as if things will go just sa it always has. Just give them time to sort out their personality issues, without too much interference and they'll be fine.