Introducing 12 week old chicks into existing flock of 2 year old birds

[Jesse Harrison]

I have 3 hens (2 Starlight Green Eggers and 1 New Hampshire Red) that I have raised since May of 2021. This spring, I decided to expand my flock and raise some chicks again. I have raised 4 Production Reds and 1 White Leghorn, with the intention of introducing all of them to my big girls and then releasing the 4 Production Reds to their eventual homes when their owners came and picked them up. The first time I tried introducing them, I place all the chicks in the coop while the big girls were sleeping, hoping that would be enough. It was not, and I ended up having to rescue my White Leghorn because they pecked her until her beak bled. I removed them from the coop for about a week, then I placed their entire chick brooder into the bottom of the coop with all of the zippers closed for a week to have them all interact safely. I then unzipped the top of the chick enclosure and let them do what they will, and the same day one of them got picked up. It has been 5 days since I opened up the top of the chick enclosure, and this morning was the first time any of them tried to leave the coop. I came out to give my girls water, and one of the Production Red chickens had been pecked so thoroughly that she was missing feathers and her wing was raw. I immediately removed her to my isolation space. She is in a small crate where she has her own food and water, but can also communicate with the rest of the flock. She is a feisty one, and is eating and drinking normally, so I think she has a chance. My concern is that tomorrow she and the other Production Red will be going to their forever home, and I am really concerned that my last chick (the white leghorn) will try and socialize and eat with the big girls and get bullied, too. Is there any way of integrating this flock, or should I offer the white leghorn to the person picking up the reds and start over? I will be raising more chicks this year, since my city recently doubled their hen limit, so maybe I should wait until I am introducing a bunch of chicks at once? What do you think?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

It will be much harder to introduce one pullet to a flock of older hens than if you were introducing a group. How old is the leghorn pullet? You can treat the Production Red chick's injury with triple antibiotic ointment without pain killer. (Any pain killer that ends in "caine" is very toxic to chickens.) Vetericyn spray is also great for healing chicken injuries. You can apply Blue-kote to the injury once the open wound closes, which will prevent other chicks/chickens from pecking the wound and causing reinjury.

I doubt the leghorn chick will try to socialize and eat with the older hens, especially since she has already been terrorized by them. With time, you can definitely integrate her, but your instincts are probably correct that it may be better to offer her to the person coming for your other chicks. If you decide to keep her, reply back here so we can offer help and advice to ensure a successful integration.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hard to troubleshoot specifics without seeing your coop and run. Especially if you're thinking of growing your flock again after this, that information would be helpful so you don't have the same issues again.

I personally wouldn't do the "pop the newbies in the coop overnight" - just no way of keeping an eye on things if they go wrong, and the birds aren't so stupid as to not realize that newcomers don't belong. What I do advocate is a see but don't touch period of 1-2 weeks, which you started doing, but on the late side - because your "chicks" are so much older, you can't take advantage of their size to provide chick sized escape hatches which are extremely helpful during integration.

I integrate very early: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/ . My last group of chicks had full coop and run access at 15 days old. Because they're so tiny and fast, they can hide in all sorts of places that hens can't reach.

As far as the leghorn it'd be easiest if she went with the other pullets to a new home. Integrating in a single bird is always the toughest.