intergrating chickens.

Kathy1

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I have 2 rirs that are a year old, and I have a mixed bunch of 7 more chickens, 2 ee, 1slw, 1glw, 1cuckoo maran, 1bo and 1blue cochin. They are 11 weeks old today. The bc, is the smallest one, it is not a bantam though. I am trying to slowly intergrate them all together free ranging at the same time so they are near each other. they keep to themselves 2 to 7 =0)

I had to switch coops and put the little girls in he big girl coop and the big girls into the little girl coop so the little ones would have more room. they seem to be adjusting fine.

My problem/questions are...

1 how much longer before they can all be in the same coop?

2 when will the rirs stop going after the bc? she gets picked on more than the others.

3 will the bc grow more than what she is now at 11 weeks?

please and thanks for any info
 
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The only answer I have for you is yes they will grow some more. Even your BC. Otherwise I don't know. I am trying to intergrate my flock and turkey poults together, everything is going well except the RIR rooster. He has been seperated for now.
 
I'd say it took a month before my introduced pairs would really socialize with the rest of the flock. When I added my last pair of silkies, they were about 5 months old and really got picked on. I took them back home with one BO for another month. There were no problems when I introduced them the second time. I don't have any bc's, so can't really help you on her size. Perhaps put the little bc and one of her buddies in the smaller coop and introduce the pair when she's a little bigger and better at defending herself.
 
I switched coops too. Here is my story on my experiences putting my pullets with my hens. First I let them all out in the yard together when the pullets were about 12 weeks old and the hens were about 1 1/2 yrs old. I put lots of scratch out for them. It didn't go to well. The hens chased and picked on the pullets terrible so I separated them. They had been in different coops and adjacent runs for over a month prior to the first time I tried to put them together to range. Prior to putting the pullets in a coop, they were in a chicken tractor which was next to the hen's run and yard since they were chicks.

Every evening for a month, I would take some scratch/seeds/grain mix and sprinkle it in the feed, and on the floor of the coop that I wanted the birds in. I was training them to go into their coops at night. The two coops with adjacent runs had access to a fenced in yard. I put a second pop door into the hen's house so when I eventually put them all together the pullets would have another door to use if needed. Also I had nest boxes in both coops. When I put them together in their yard the last time when the pullets were about 20 weeks, I had two hens that were terrible and jumping on the pullets and pulling their feathers out. I took the two most aggressive hens out and separated them from the rest. They were put into a separate pen for a week where all the rest of the chickens could walk around them see them but couldn't touch. When I did let them out, I put them all together in their yard with plenty of treats and scratch out hopefully to distract them. It worked for the most part, but for one of the hens. She was still very aggressive. When I saw her jump on one of the pullets I put her back in jail for a couple of days then let her out. She was still somewhat aggressive. When I saw her jump on a pullet, I sprayed her with water from a hose which is next to the coop which caught her by surprise. She went running into the coop and didn't come out for awhile. I have repeated the hose caper a few times. She has calmed down since then.

Since my goal was to eventually get all of the birds to live in one coop, I decided to switch the birds around and put the pullets in the hen's house and the hens in the pullet's coop. I shut the runs off from each other and the yard so they only had access to the coops and runs I put them in. I didn't lock them in the coop. I left the pop doors open to the run for that coop. They could go at free will into their run but not the other run, other coop or their yard for a week. I continued with the treats in the coops in the evenings trying to keep the ritual of evening treats in the coop so they would go in for their treats. After the switch for a week I opened the gates to the runs and yard. I let them all range together. For the next week I let them choose which coop to roost in and most except for 3/4 birds roosted in the hen's house. After a week of free choice coops I shut the pop door on the pullets coop. Now they either had to roost in the hen’s house or in the run. They do have a ladder in their run. There was a little bickering in the beginning at roosting time but all is well now and they have worked out their pecking order. They all roost now in the hen's house. I don't know if my story will help you in any way. I know every integration/combining of flock are all different and unique.

Sorry this post is so lengthy.
 
I just put my 12 week old cochins in with my older hens 2 days ago. They don't seem to be fighting or picking on the little ones. The little ones totally stay away from the older ones. I'm a little disapointed, I was hopeful that they would all flock together. Maybe in time.
 
thanks for the posts and info, I appreciate it. I actually got 1 big girl in with the little girls for a few hours, and they were fine. They did not roost together but I put her into the other coop for the night as she did peck my bc a bit. I feel bad she is the one that gets picked on.

The other big girl Shelly, is so obnoxious she chases the little ones and peck really hard so she is the real trouble maker I dont know what to do with her I suppose just wait and see, try again when the little girls are bigger. I was trying to get them all in 1 big coop as it would be eaiser and I can get yard redone with the small one gone. I hope they get along soon. I dont know how else to get them to intergrate.
 

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