Intoducing my new chicks

[Free Rrange Farmer]

Hi recently I have bought 10 ISA Brown pullets they are now 21 weeks old
I also have hatched 5 ISA Brown x Barnevelder chicks they will be 13 weeks old on Tuesday.

I have been trying to introduce the chicks to the flock (rooster, 2 hens, 10 pullets) but the Pullets keep trying to kill them. it's not just the normal pecking order stuff, they will have 2-5 ISA's on one chick trying to kill it.

Will my rooster break them up?
How do I get them into the flock?

 

[CluckerFamily]

How are you integrating them? If you just add them to the flock. There will always be the normal pecking order trying to be figured out.
I normally do a 2-3 see but no touch integration in which everyone is in the same coop/run but no one can touch each other.

 

[mcdze]

yeah, if they arnt familiar with each other just throwing them in will result in chaos lol ... get a roll of wire and fence off an area(s) in the coop for awhile ... if you free range they need to get on the program somehow to for awhile until they know where home is, the food, and their roost, so it may involve dividing up multiple areas and leaving the new ones penned up until you to, are confident you have them on the program to get up in the evening etc ... it can all be done with wire and screws usually ..

 

[Free Rrange Farmer]

yeah, if they arnt familiar with each other just throwing them in will result in chaos lol ... get a roll of wire and fence off an area(s) in the coop for awhile ... if you free range they need to get on the program somehow to for awhile until they know where home is, the food, and their roost, so it may involve dividing up multiple areas and leaving the new ones penned up until you to, are confident you have them on the program to get up in the evening etc ... it can all be done with wire and screws usually ..

Thank You for the reply, they have been like this since the chicks first went outside. I have a huge walk-in pen for the flock and a smaller coop inside to the chicks to interact with the rest of the flock.

 

[Free Rrange Farmer]

How are you integrating them? If you just add them to the flock. There will always be the normal pecking order trying to be figured out.
I normally do a 2-3 see but no touch integration in which everyone is in the same coop/run but no one can touch each other.

How does that work??

 

[CluckerFamily]

How does that work??

I made a divider out of chicken wire that divided the coop in half but around a waterer so that they all have to share the same waterer but they can't get to each other. During the day, I move the new members into a crate that is in the run (I have standard goldendoodles so I use a their old big crate), if I didn't have have a big crate, I would make a divider in the run also. The new member get use to being handled twice a day, from moving from the coop to the run and back in for the night.
After 2-3 weeks, I let them all mingle together under supervision; if everything goes well, great.... if anything goes wrong, I do another week of see but no touch.

 

[Free Rrange Farmer]

I made a divider out of chicken wire that divided the coop in half but around a waterer so that they all have to share the same waterer but they can't get to each other. During the day, I move the new members into a crate that is in the run (I have standard goldendoodles so I use a their old big crate), if I didn't have have a big crate, I would make a divider in the run also. The new member get use to being handled twice a day, from moving from the coop to the run and back in for the night.
After 2-3 weeks, I let them all mingle together under supervision; if everything goes well, great.... if anything goes wrong, I do another week of see but no touch.

Yes, I have been doing that the chicks have been in the walk-in pen but safely inside their own coop so they can see the others but can not touch them. I think I may just let them out and see how that goes

 

[CluckerFamily]

That sounds great! Normal pecking is fine but if there is blood or bad ganging up, you may want to separate them for awhile again.

 

[Free Rrange Farmer]

That sounds great! Normal pecking is fine but if there is blood or bad ganging up, you may want to separate them for awhile again.

Okay thanks for your help!
I may even let them out altogether to free-range in the mutual ground first?
I will let you know how it goes
Thanks again!

 

[CluckerFamily]

Okay thanks for your help!
I may even let them out altogether to free-range in the mutual ground first?

That sounds good! And you can supervise them for a while to see how it goes. I keep my feed and treats near the coop in the detached garage. You may want to have some treats handy in case you need to distract the flock if you need to round them up.