Introducing new chicks to an established flock

[capnmoby]

We recently picked up 4 new chicks. They are too young to be outside right now. We already have 6 hens outside, all around 2 years old. My question is, when I get to introducing the young birds to the rest, are there steps I should take to make the transition go as smoothly as possible? Tricks? Thanks for your help!

 

[lazy gardener]

A lot depends on your set up. Check out @azygous article about the panic room set up. Many of us have found that it's easier to integrate chicks at a much younger age than waiting until they are of equal size to the older birds.

 

[Relleoms]

We began the introduction process two weeks ago and it’s worked great so far (fingers crossed I didn’t just jinx it!). We have our five week old chicks in rabbit cages so the big girls can see them and interact. Three days ago we left the door of the cage open and allowed supervised mingling of the bigs & littles with no drama. We’ve increased the mingling time each day and today I created an “escape hatch”, a piece of cardboard with a 4”x5” opening cut into it so the little girls can escape into the cage from the big girls if necessary. So far so good, and hopeful they’ll all be best buds soon.

 

[azygous]

You can start introducing these small chicks to the adult flock anytime you like. I brood my chicks in the run with the big chickens using a safe pen. When my chicks are around two to three weeks old, I open their portals from their pen into the rest of the run, and they run in and out of their pen at will, knowing to return to safety when they lose their nerve. I've had very good luck with this method. Here's the article with photos of how it works. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors.71995/

 

[aart]

Ditto the brooding in the coop and integrating young..
Much easier integration, but it does take some facility setup, well worth the effort IMO.
Here's how I do it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[TheWickedChicken]

I got 3 GLW chicks last month that are about 5 weeks old now that will need to integrate into the existing flock of SLW hens. We brood them in the hen’s “coop” which is located inside the run. I put quotes around “coop” because the hens never used it for roosting preferring to instead sleep on the coop roof. Eventually we just hung a roosting pole from the run roof for them because they would slide off the coop roof at night. Anyways, we put the chicks in the coop locking the hens out for the first three weeks. Starting at four weeks we let them out of the coop to explore the run. The hens are locked out of the run and free range the yard all day when the chicks are in the run. At night we put the chicks back in the coop and let the hens back in to roost on the pole in the run. I’m hoping integration will be easy since the hens have been in the presence of the chicks since day 1. Should I start allowing supervised interactions between the hens and the chicks? If so, would it be best to do it one hen at a time?