Introducing new flock of pullets to older girls, need help.

[Hencraze24]

So, I have a flock of 2 month old chickens. We have 5 pullets and 3 cockerels (Trying to re-home 2 of them). They are currently fenced off in a 10*9 area in the run. The run belongs to our 7 older girls, who are around a year and a half old. How and when should I introduce my new flock to my old flock? They are much too small right now.

Some of my favorite moments with my girls are watching my hens interact with our pullets through the fence.

 

[azygous]

Chicks as young as two weeks can safely interact with adult chickens after having one week to observe the adults' behavior. They are capable of making judgements about temperament at even that young age.

Integrating chicks as young as possible, in my experience over many years, is preferable to waiting until they have grown to size parity with the adults. Why? Because small chicks present no threat to the pecking order while larger chicks may, therefore inviting challenges from the older flock.

I introduce chicks after the one week period of letting them observe the adults by providing a lot of safety escapes by means of small chick-size openings in all of the run partitions. A run that has partitions, by the way, is much safer for younger chickens than one large open area.

As youngsters grow too large for the chick escape hatches, I provide vertical escapes such as shelves, higher perches, or even an old card table where they can access their food and water without the hassling of the older chickens.

 

[aart]

Some of my favorite moments with my girls are watching my hens interact with our pullets through the fence.

..and how does that interaction look....aggressive or....?
How long have they been there?
A couple weeks should do the trick.
If not too aggressive, I'd let them mingle sooner rather than later.


Here some tips that might help about.......
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.

 

[Ridgerunner]

To me the most important part of integration is how much room you have. Mature hens outrank immature chickens and don't like their personal space violated by those young brats and often peck when it is. The immature chickens generally quickly learn to avoid the mature ones. They need enough room to do that. It's not just square feet space, the quality of that space makes a difference too. Having ways they can hide under, behind, or over and get out of sight helps a lot. That doesn't mean you can't integrate with less space that is wide open, just that the chance for serious problems goes up the more crowded they are. Azygous's idea of a safe place only they can go where the entrance is too small for the bigs is a great way to expand your space. So is putting stuff in there.

Chickens know who is in their flock. When strangers show up they can sometimes be defensive. That's why housing them where they can see each other can be a big help. Over time they get used to them so they are no longer strangers. That does not guarantee there won't be issues but it can be a big help.

One potential issue is where they sleep. Them avoiding the older ones usually caries over to the roosts. Mine usually don't move to the main roosts until they are mature enough to force their way into the pecking order. For pullets that is usually when they start to lay. For cockerels. who knows? That can be all over the board. When they are all sleeping in the same coop the immature ones typically find another safer place to sleep that is not the main roosts. Sometimes that can be a nest. I integrate a lot of young chickens. That became such a problem that I put in a separate juvenile roost, lower than the main roosts, horizontally separated by a few feet, and higher than the nests. Now I hardly ever have one try to sleep in a nest. You may not have that problem, a lot depends on how the coop is laid out. I don't care where mine sleep as long as they are not sleeping in the nests.

At eight weeks your hens will probably see those cockerels as just chickens. They probably will not treat the any different from the pullets. But once the hormones hit and the cockerels enter puberty it can get pretty wild. It's not just about sex, it's mainly about domination. The one on bottom is accepting the domination of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it's usually by force. The cockerels won't just go after the pullets, they will also try the mature hens. The hens may beat the snot out of the boys or they may just run away. In either case it can get really wild down there. Unless you keep that cockerel separated until he is pretty much fully mature you will see this phase. Mature might mean seven months, it might mean a full year. The personality of the individual chickens and how much room you have will affect how wild it gets, but I would not hold off on integration to try to avoid this. It's going to happen either way and at the end of the day the chickens are hardly ever hurt by it. It is usually harder on the person watching than the chickens themselves.

My situation is different to yours. My wire brooder is in the coop so the chicks basically grow up with the flock. At five weeks I open the brooder door and walk away. Later, when they are all out I shut that door. That's my typical integration. I have a fairly large coop with places they can hide under and over, not so much behind. I also have a lot of room outside, a 12' x 32' main run plus an area 45' x 65' inside electric netting. The adults are hardly ever in the coop other than to lay eggs or sleep and the young have room to stay away when they are outside. I have several food and water stations scattered around.

When my main coop is getting crowded I may move some to my grow-out coop. That is at the other end of my main run.and has a section fenced off so they can continue to see each other. Once I am confident they will return to the grow-out coop at night instead of trying to go to the main coop I let them mingle wit the adults during the day.

Yours did not grow up with the flock. If I were in your situation I'd wait until they have been across that wire for a week or more, then when I was around to observe, just open it up and let them have at it. You may want to try to make their current area a safe haven with small openings only they can get through. I don't but that can help. If the young ones want to sleep separately from the adults, let them as long as it is a predator proof area. No one can give you any guarantees as to how smoothly it will go, but there is a pretty good chance you will be surprised about how peaceful it often is.

Good luck!

 

[Hencraze24]

I think they are used to each other. A couple of pullets got out and were foraging somewhat near the older girls without an issue. our silkies live with our pullets, and they are friendly toward the silkies.

 

[Hencraze24]

..and how does that interaction look....aggressive or....?
How long have they been there?
A couple weeks should do the trick.
If not too aggressive, I'd let them mingle sooner rather than later.


Here some tips that might help about.......
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.

They stare at them like they stare at me, and the chicks don't feel threatened at all. They get along with our silkie hens, who we tossed in with our pullets when they were a month old.