I have a 2 year old flock of 6 chickens that I'm trying to introduce 3 13 week old "babies" to. I had the babies in the yard, next to the coop so everyone could see each other for about a week. Then I started letting everyone in the yard, including the babies, during the day, for a week. At that point things seemed OK so I started putting the babies in the hen house at night and letting everyone into the yard during the day. At the end of last week I tried to keep the girls all together, in the coop, for part of the day. My two Rhode Island Reds unleashed on the babies. The babies were so scared they dog pilled next to the door, in about a 1 ft sq area and if so much a a feather moved on one of them the reds were on them. So Saturday night I pulled the Reds out and put them in the crate, for a "time-out". Things in the coop seem OK, a little pecking and a few words have been exchanged, a lot like what I had expected initially. The babies are allowed to eat/drink/move around etc. Is this all normal? At what point do I try to re-introduce the reds? Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, my first 6 have always found the roost without any issue. This new group can't/won't on their own. Any advice? Thank you, all.
