Introducing chicks to free range older hens

[KittieChick]

My 6 teenagers are integrated with my 6 yearling hens and rooster as of last weekend. They had to be manually placed into the coop the first night and after that, they go in with the big kids. I'm noticing less and less screaming and chasing (thank you, Lord!). Next up is my 6 week old group of Dorking chicks. After that I'll have a bit of time before the Black Javas head out and the dozen test Dorkings that I've got incubating. Yikes! I've been slowly selling pullets and paring down the flock size. The Dorkings will take longer, probably about the holiday season before I can process any culls.

Okay, I need to get busy today, I'm behind on everything!

 

[LayALilEgg 4Me]

Oohh ive learnt loads from this thread as i too in a few weeks will be doing some chick introducing for the first time so will be using some tips from here, thanks xx

 

[Morning]

This thread has gone dormant for a while, but I need to get some opinions.
Like the person who started the thread I have chicks who are ready to go outside. Already in the coop/run I have four pullets.. about three months old. Also a RIR cockerel who takes his job very seriously. I have introduced the youngsters in a small wire cage ( My coon trap) on sunny days. Also, while the older chickens were out ranging, I locked the babies in the coop/run today. I can tell by the cockerel's behavior that these new kids are going to have quite an initiation. I'm thinking that I could close off the unused nesting box in my coop and let the little ones sleep there.
Question: Is the nest box sacrosanct? If I use it for a kinder dorm, will it still be a nesting place when my chickens start laying?
Question: Will it do any good to have the chicks in such proximity to the adolescents. Like making the introduction easier?
Question: Is it too stressful a transition for the little ones? It would be for me.
Thanks for your input.

 

[Den in Penn]

For me the nest boxes should only be used for laying. If they start to use the nest boxes for sleeping they will continue to use them out of habit. The reason this is bad is that they tend to poop where they sleep, so if they sleep in the boxes the eggs will pick up the poop.
Having the younger ones in close proximity before they actually can mingle allows them to at least get to know each other. So the stranger among us, attack. is reduced.
A new situation always carries stress. It is something they and you will have to go through. Chicks have been meeting the flock for untold generations. It is something they know how to do, mostly. If you give them the room, places to hide or break the lines of sight and a couple of feeders it should go well.

 

[RnRRidgerunner]

This thread has gone dormant for a while, but I need to get some opinions.
Like the person who started the thread I have chicks who are ready to go outside. Already in the coop/run I have four pullets.. about three months old. Also a RIR cockerel who takes his job very seriously. I have introduced the youngsters in a small wire cage ( My coon trap) on sunny days. Also, while the older chickens were out ranging, I locked the babies in the coop/run today. I can tell by the cockerel's behavior that these new kids are going to have quite an initiation. I'm thinking that I could close off the unused nesting box in my coop and let the little ones sleep there.
Question: Is the nest box sacrosanct? If I use it for a kinder dorm, will it still be a nesting place when my chickens start laying?
Question: Will it do any good to have the chicks in such proximity to the adolescents. Like making the introduction easier?
Question: Is it too stressful a transition for the little ones? It would be for me.
Thanks for your input.

Hello, welcome to the thread! Look back at my post #9 on page one. I made the temporary barrel coop for my two buffs. It worked very well and was fairly easy to assemble and safe at night when locked up from predators. I enclosed them with short fence within the run for two to three weeks. I then slowly introduced them into the main coop at night by hand. There was some pecking and the two buffs were a flock within a flock, but eventually went in at night on their own.





Everything was going nicely, until I forgot to lock up the coop three nights ago. the raccoons got one of my buffs and one of my Barred Rocks. So I am down to three laying hens and one pullet. It so sad to lose them as I raised them from chicks.

I feel the guilt. Then I had to wait until the sun dried out the feathers left behind so I could yard vac them up. ARRRGH! So lesson learned, lock them up at night for sure. I think it is best to have some sort of private coop/run for the little ones, but also to integrate them as close as you can.
I still have to keep an eye on the Barred Rock as she is a bit of a bully. The two RIR's are OK with the Buff. they all have different personalities. LOL Good luck!

Oh, If they can range together they seemed to get along better and get used to each other.

 

[Morning]

'That's so sad. I am sorry you lost your chickens. Coons are such a plague .Locking up the coop is what I have learned from you.It's easy now, but I can see me putting it off in the winter.
Your little chicken pen and coop are charming. I can see all the love and care you put into it. We too have spent a lot of hours working on a home for our chickens. My boyfriend came in sweating and hungry one day from extending the coop. I said,"You must really love eggs.".I can't recall his answer but it seems like he just said, :"I need a shower."
Here's how I see our security situation. The coop. Fort Knox. The pen. Not so much. The free range area, very high stakes gamble.
We sit out in the free range area with our chickens at night. I drink wine and he thinks about eggs.
It's been a wonderful summer, this summer of the chickens, and I would not trade it for anything.

 

[RnRRidgerunner]

'That's so sad. I am sorry you lost your chickens. Coons are such a plague .Locking up the coop is what I have learned from you.It's easy now, but I can see me putting it off in the winter.
Your little chicken pen and coop are charming. I can see all the love and care you put into it. We too have spent a lot of hours working on a home for our chickens. My boyfriend came in sweating and hungry one day from extending the coop. I said,"You must really love eggs.".I can't recall his answer but it seems like he just said, :"I need a shower."
Here's how I see our security situation. The coop. Fort Knox. The pen. Not so much. The free range area, very high stakes gamble.
We sit out in the free range area with our chickens at night. I drink wine and he thinks about eggs.
It's been a wonderful summer, this summer of the chickens, and I would not trade it for anything.

LOL! Yes, we do the same here in the evening until the mosquitoes run my wife off. We have three chairs one for each of us and one for the cat Snowy. We watch the chickens free range around us and sometimes off to the edge of the woods. I sip a cold beer and snack on some peanuts, which the chickens beg for and get an occasional one. lol I bought the plans for my coop on line and it looked larger there. It is sufficient for the chickens, but I have to do the limbo to enter it. lol I explored many other designs since. Oh, mine is a chicken tractor with wheels that work great on flat and level land. We have not flat and many rocks which are not round. One fellow bought a old hay wagon running gear and built his large coop on it. I have since bought a used boat trailer which I will convert into an actual rolling over anything coop which will be large enought to lock up and leave for at least a week with on board 50 pound feeder and large water container for water(with horizontal chicken nipples) for and extended time. I want to make it so I can actually stand up in it as well. Anyway needless to say another chicken project. LOL! I just found an add on Craigslist for Buff Orpington pullets about 3 months old. I will have to check that out as soon as the remnants of Hurricane Bill passes the area and it is dry enough to go there.
In regard to your security sounds like you have a good handle on it. We live in the woods here I have twenty acres of it. We have all the predators here, possums, raccoons, fox, coyote, and yes even cougar. They were brought into the area by fish and game to thin down the ferel hog, and deer population. We have wild turkeys that I swear are in the 3 to 4 feet tall range when they stand up straight. I have seen them all except the cougars, which my next door neighbor seen last deer hunting season heading over to us. It's the ticks that I fear. lol
Most of the predators will come in at night. If you get a solar light with a motion detector from Harbor freight I think that will help deter them. Yep got one on the coop now.

It is so much fun and relaxing to watch them forage and range in the evening. Good to be out of the "din" of close civilization,4 miles to the Grand Casino, eight miles to town.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.6748609,-94.7166996,1232a,20y,39.07t/data=!3m1!1e3

Our place with the long lane between the horeshoe and the curved one on the right.


Snowy relaxing the other day behind the house. Enjoy the chickens!!

 

[Morning]

How cool is that. You're really out in the sticks. Is that ground cover oak brush? I'm trying to picture the woods the chickens wander into. So glad you found fairly grown hens. It's hard to picture such weather as you all get. Soon you'll be able to go get your new girls.
My people are from the Guthrie area. But we migrated to Colorado generations ago. Given your tempestuous weather, I think I'm glad we left there.
I have begun introducing the youngsters to he adolescents. It is pretty upsetting for them but, heck, They're Chickens.

 

[RnRRidgerunner]

Yep, oak trees and a few hickory. Have a serious problem with a virus that kills the red Oak trees, but have pleanty of post and white oak as well. Our ridge is 1050 ft above MSL, the town of grove is 820 MSl or so. The Grand lake of the Cherokee is about 750 ft at level(MSL) We LOVE it here.LOL