Introducing chicks to older chicks

[Aprilap55]

so I got my first batch of chicks the last week of July.
About 2 weeks later chicken math grabbed me and I ended up with 10 more from a local feed store. A mix of turkens , silkies , & "ameraucanas" which we will call EEs.

I kept them all in one room but seperate brooders. After Hurricane Laura came through it was just entirely too hot -and smelly-to keep all of these chickens indoors , so we moved the bigger chicks out to the coop. They are doing perfectly fine aside from hating being cooped up at night time. Anyway , while cleaning out the indoor chicks brooder today I decided to try them out in the coop with the older chickens. With supervision of course.
They did amazing at first , all got along and dust bathed together and all the chicken things do. After about an hour or so however the bigger ones especially the roosters started pecking at the younger. Eventually they ended up separated into the 2 original groups and stayed well away from each other , only coming together when the older ones would invade the youngs space to eat , drink or just peck their heads. I thought maybe it would be better if they were introduced young as to minimize injuries like spurs and stronger pecking. Am I wrong? Should I wait a little longer? Aside from the silkies , the newer group seem to
be the same size as my older bantam cochins. I'd like to keep the silkies indoors a bit longer but the turkens & EEs id like to integrate with the outside group. Its plenty warm enough outside and the coop is strong enough to withstand predators and even the hurricane itself with no real damage.
Sorry my post is so extremely long winded , im a rambler. Apologies! I welcome any criticism or advice!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

They are close enough in age to keep them all together. Your coop set up is awesome and looks like they have different things to distract them. Do they sleep/roost together? They will likely always be two groups that learn to coexist. Beautiful birds. If the silkies were raised with some of the others I would just put them out as well, as waiting to do so will just make it harder!

 

[Aprilap55]

They are close enough in age to keep them all together. Your coop set up is awesome and looks like they have different things to distract them. Do they sleep/roost together? They will likely always be two groups that learn to coexist. Beautiful birds. If the silkies were raised with some of the others I would just put them out as well, as waiting to do so will just make it harder!

Thank you! The two groups roost separately so far but I did go ahead and put all but the silkies in the coop together tonight. I just worried because most of the silkies are so tiny still. But if you think its best i will try them in the coop tomorrow night!

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Sounds good, but you have to do what you think is best! My silkies were raised with marans and ameraucanas and they all get long just fine. Have been outside since they were 6 weeks old.

 

[Aprilap55]

They did fine most of the time unless they wandered over to the bigger group alone , then they got pecked a few times and id herd them back to their end of the run where all was well again. The only real worry for me was the 2 small black silkies that are obviously much younger than all my other chickens. I'll just have to sleep on it tonight , see how the bigs faired in the morning and go from there. I appreciate your advice very much!

 

[aart]

Do the littles still need heat?
What does your coop look like?
I'd leave them all together if at all possible.
Might add places to hide and more feeders waterers.


Here's some tips.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

 

[CHlCKEN]

so I got my first batch of chicks the last week of July.
About 2 weeks later chicken math grabbed me and I ended up with 10 more from a local feed store. A mix of turkens , silkies , & "ameraucanas" which we will call EEs.

I kept them all in one room but seperate brooders. After Hurricane Laura came through it was just entirely too hot -and smelly-to keep all of these chickens indoors , so we moved the bigger chicks out to the coop. They are doing perfectly fine aside from hating being cooped up at night time. Anyway , while cleaning out the indoor chicks brooder today I decided to try them out in the coop with the older chickens. With supervision of course.
They did amazing at first , all got along and dust bathed together and all the chicken things do. After about an hour or so however the bigger ones especially the roosters started pecking at the younger. Eventually they ended up separated into the 2 original groups and stayed well away from each other , only coming together when the older ones would invade the youngs space to eat , drink or just peck their heads. I thought maybe it would be better if they were introduced young as to minimize injuries like spurs and stronger pecking. Am I wrong? Should I wait a little longer? Aside from the silkies , the newer group seem to
be the same size as my older bantam cochins. I'd like to keep the silkies indoors a bit longer but the turkens & EEs id like to integrate with the outside group. Its plenty warm enough outside and the coop is strong enough to withstand predators and even the hurricane itself with no real damage.
Sorry my post is so extremely long winded , im a rambler. Apologies! I welcome any criticism or advice!

I love that little space for them! They are probably close in age enough for me to say it’s ok. They seem to have plenty of space. Just add a few extra Food and watering places, roosts and places to jump onto like hay bales. (Make sure they are under a rain cover so they won’t mold as fast)

 

[Ciggynel]

Be careful and secure any loose roost bars or anything that can trap your chicks. I lost a beautiful Golden Laced because my older hen got spooked and a chick got pinned under the roost bar. We noticed a baby opossum was climbing on the pen. My older hen pecks once in a while the chicks but nothing serious just establishing pecking order. Now they hang out together.

 

[Aprilap55]

Do the littles still need heat?
What does your coop look like?
I'd leave them all together if at all possible.
Might add places to hide and more feeders waterers.


Here's some tips.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

Thank you! I have multiple feeders and waterers , I did end up moving the ones pictured to each end of the run but im about to go add some more and a few hiding spots as well. The hurricane provided us with plenty of materials i can repurpose for that lol the coop is on the smaller side but we will be expanding it hopefully in a couple of days , for now the kids and i built a roost for the older ones that were in the run already but I can rearrange to add more for the time being. I'm sure the smallest chicks -2-4 of the silkies- do require heat but its extremely hot here as of now. The daily heat index has been well over 100 for a while now and they have been fine without it since our power went out.

 

[Aprilap55]

I love that little space for them! They are probably close in age enough for me to say it’s ok. They seem to have plenty of space. Just add a few extra Food and watering places, roosts and places to jump onto like hay bales. (Make sure they are under a rain cover so they won’t mold as fast)

Thank you! I am about to get out and figure some new things to put in , we have goats as well so I do have hay bales already! The swings will be replaced with boards for the bigger ones to fly up to if they choose , and ill be adding some chicken tents for the smaller ones to hide under for safety as well as a few roost in the run.