Introducing young chickens to adults

[BettyNicol]

I have two adult chickens - the buff Brahma bantam, Thelma, is the oldest and has been at this location for years. She lost 3 of her flock mates and that left her alone. So about 2 months ago we got Princess - the polish - is a laying adult (no idea how old) and Thelma gave her a bit of a hard time - just not wanting her to eat scratch and stuff. Probably normal. No horrible fights or anything. Now we’ve been raising three chicks who are currently about 7 weeks old (a Wellsummer, a Easter egger and a lacewing). The three have been raised together in the house - in a giant tub with the brooding heater and all.
Our Setup - 2 adult chickens have a hen house, a fenced in yard with a roof and a larger non-roofed outdoor yard. The young ones have been inside at night and during a big snow we had, with really cold temps; and outside during the day in a small henhouse (the Cottage, we call it) with a tiny contained yard.
I’ve let the women chickens go in with the young ladies once and that caused a ruckus when princess was pecking them and I had trouble getting her out. Today I let the young women go into the larger non-roof yard with the women. Thelma (the eldest) came over and pecked each of them. I assume this is normal? She did it once each when they were too close to her. She didn’t draw blood or pluck out feathers or anything. But about 30 min later she cornered all three of them in a sort of narrow area corner. They were crying and I went and put them back in the cottage alone.
QUESTIONS:
1) how do I best introduce them so that soon they can all live together in the henhouse / yard soon?
2) When is it ok to leave them outside at night? It’s still getting down into the mid 40’s here. I can leave them outside with the heater in the cottage - but once the sun starts going down they just start crying. And they also leave the hen house and sit by the door as if waiting for me to come get them.
3) I also have 6 young ducks (4 cayugas and 2 Welch harlequins. At least one of them is a male we think) - almost 4 weeks old - who we are building a separate completely fenced yard and indoor hut for. I’m making a separate thing because I’ve heard ducks and chickens don’t get along often, and that drakes can kill chickens through sexual aggression sometimes. I would like to try them all hanging out in the yard together in case it could be nice for everyone. What is the best ways to try to introduce them?
Thank you for any help you can offer!

 

[aart]

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.
None of them are women


Here's some tips 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.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/