I'm happy to say that the two groups of ducklings (2-week age difference) are now one big happy, unified flock. Miss Lydia, thanks for the advice. Here are all the details (ages and timeline approximate):
Ages (2.5 weeks & a few days old):
Nighttime: Separated. Older ducklings in outdoor duck coop with brooder lamp. Little ducklings indoors in brooder.
Daytime: Separated. While the older ducklings were foraging in the grass, if the temperature was warm enough, I let the little ducklings out in the grass as well, but enclosed in "dog" fence (lined with hardware cloth so they couldn't wiggle out, and covered with a tarp to deter hawk-type predators). This arrangement would last between a couple hours or most of the daytime, depending on the weather. The two flocks generally ignored each other.
Ages (3 week & 1 week):
Nighttime: Same as above (separated).
Daytime: Same as above (separated), except that for short times we let the younger flock out of their fenced area (heavily supervised) to mingle with the older flock. There was a lot of pecking, and we intervened after a few minutes. The next day, repeated this, and again, a lot of pecking. Nobody was getting hurt but it was unnerving to watch. The younger ones seemed to genuinely want to join the older flock, running along behind them etc.
My impression with the pecking was that literally every individual from the older flock had to peck every individual from the younger flock to establish their "pecking" order. Any thoughts? Similar/different experiences? One technique I found to help was letting just a few of the older individuals at a time mingle with the younger flock (e.g. put the rest of older flock in the kiddie pool or the coop). Then rotating those older individuals. That way it wasn't so much pecking all at once.
Ages (3.5 weeks & 1.5 weeks):
Nighttime: Together but separated. Before their first night in this new arrangement, we moved the older flock's coop (modular) to new location so that it would be neutral territory, expanded it, then sectioned off part of it with chicken wire for the younger flock. Each flock had a separate door for entry/exit, and a separate brooder lamp (though some folks would put the lamp above the middle of the separation fence). The two flocks could see each other but could not access each other. The older flock had a larger area (probably 3 times larger) because they had 3 times as many individuals.
Feeding: Separate. Younger ducks had their food and water inside their area of the coop. Older ducks were fed and watered outside of the coop.
Daytime: We kept the younger flock locked inside their coop during the day, except for heavily supervised opportunities to forage as a separate flock or mingle with the older flock, however they chose. Older flock had free-range.
Ages (4 weeks & 2 weeks):
Nighttime: Same as above. (Together but separated.)
Feeding: Separate. Older flock was fed in same area as before. Younger flock's feeding area moved to outside of coop, but about 15-20 feet away from the older flock's feeding area. Feeding times were closely supervised to keep older ducks away from eating the younger ducks' feed.
Daytime: Both flocks had free-range, but generally functioned as 2 separate flocks.
We left both doors open during the day so both flocks could come and go as they wished. Occasionally an older individual wandered into the younger flock's coop area, and we shooed them out, but generally the older flock was more interested in foraging etc with the rest of their flock. Sometimes if the whole younger flock was in their coop area, we'd close their door and give them a few hours alone. The younger flock would sometimes try to follow the older flock in foraging, and sometimes they were successful, but often they couldn't keep up, so they would give up and forage separately.
At this point, the older flock's alphas (and most of the older individuals) generally accepted/tolerated the younger ones, but there were a few older individuals who were not welcoming and would "peck" the younger ones away if they got too close. One of the older individuals was actually protective of the younger ones (turns out he's the alpha drake of the older flock--definitely a keeper). Alpha drake didn't intervene in the squabbles between members of the two flocks, but if he sensed external threats, he would move away from the older flock and closer to the younger flock to watch them.
Ages (4.5 weeks & 2.5 weeks):
Nighttime: Transitioned to being fully together, no separation.
Feeding: Same as above. Still closely supervised.
Daytime: Started foraging etc as 1 unified flock.
Around this time, about 1 week after we had first put both flocks in the same coop at night with a separation fence, we decided that they were ready to be combined at night. One evening, we found that all of the individuals from both flocks had gone into the older flock's section of the coop, and were settling in for the night. At that moment we removed the chicken wire separation, and from then on both flocks had full access to the entire coop.
Post-Combining Issues
Generally everybody got along well. As the feeding/watering combined, there were 1 or 2 older individuals who would be territorial about that. So feeding times had to be monitored for a long time.
Because of the size difference, if the flock would startle and run very quickly, sometimes the younger individuals would fall and get stepped on accidentally by the older individuals, not injured thankfully.
At this point, though, it's one big happy flock.
Thank you so much for this! I have the same exact situation. I’m at week 4 now and the drakes have not been a problem as much as the hens.I'm happy to say that the two groups of ducklings (2-week age difference) are now one big happy, unified flock. Miss Lydia, thanks for the advice. Here are all the details (ages and timeline approximate):
Ages (2.5 weeks & a few days old):
Nighttime: Separated. Older ducklings in outdoor duck coop with brooder lamp. Little ducklings indoors in brooder.
Daytime: Separated. While the older ducklings were foraging in the grass, if the temperature was warm enough, I let the little ducklings out in the grass as well, but enclosed in "dog" fence (lined with hardware cloth so they couldn't wiggle out, and covered with a tarp to deter hawk-type predators). This arrangement would last between a couple hours or most of the daytime, depending on the weather. The two flocks generally ignored each other.
Ages (3 week & 1 week):
Nighttime: Same as above (separated).
Daytime: Same as above (separated), except that for short times we let the younger flock out of their fenced area (heavily supervised) to mingle with the older flock. There was a lot of pecking, and we intervened after a few minutes. The next day, repeated this, and again, a lot of pecking. Nobody was getting hurt but it was unnerving to watch. The younger ones seemed to genuinely want to join the older flock, running along behind them etc.
My impression with the pecking was that literally every individual from the older flock had to peck every individual from the younger flock to establish their "pecking" order. Any thoughts? Similar/different experiences? One technique I found to help was letting just a few of the older individuals at a time mingle with the younger flock (e.g. put the rest of older flock in the kiddie pool or the coop). Then rotating those older individuals. That way it wasn't so much pecking all at once.
Ages (3.5 weeks & 1.5 weeks):
Nighttime: Together but separated. Before their first night in this new arrangement, we moved the older flock's coop (modular) to new location so that it would be neutral territory, expanded it, then sectioned off part of it with chicken wire for the younger flock. Each flock had a separate door for entry/exit, and a separate brooder lamp (though some folks would put the lamp above the middle of the separation fence). The two flocks could see each other but could not access each other. The older flock had a larger area (probably 3 times larger) because they had 3 times as many individuals.
Feeding: Separate. Younger ducks had their food and water inside their area of the coop. Older ducks were fed and watered outside of the coop.
Daytime: We kept the younger flock locked inside their coop during the day, except for heavily supervised opportunities to forage as a separate flock or mingle with the older flock, however they chose. Older flock had free-range.
Ages (4 weeks & 2 weeks):
Nighttime: Same as above. (Together but separated.)
Feeding: Separate. Older flock was fed in same area as before. Younger flock's feeding area moved to outside of coop, but about 15-20 feet away from the older flock's feeding area. Feeding times were closely supervised to keep older ducks away from eating the younger ducks' feed.
Daytime: Both flocks had free-range, but generally functioned as 2 separate flocks.
We left both doors open during the day so both flocks could come and go as they wished. Occasionally an older individual wandered into the younger flock's coop area, and we shooed them out, but generally the older flock was more interested in foraging etc with the rest of their flock. Sometimes if the whole younger flock was in their coop area, we'd close their door and give them a few hours alone. The younger flock would sometimes try to follow the older flock in foraging, and sometimes they were successful, but often they couldn't keep up, so they would give up and forage separately.
At this point, the older flock's alphas (and most of the older individuals) generally accepted/tolerated the younger ones, but there were a few older individuals who were not welcoming and would "peck" the younger ones away if they got too close. One of the older individuals was actually protective of the younger ones (turns out he's the alpha drake of the older flock--definitely a keeper). Alpha drake didn't intervene in the squabbles between members of the two flocks, but if he sensed external threats, he would move away from the older flock and closer to the younger flock to watch them.
Ages (4.5 weeks & 2.5 weeks):
Nighttime: Transitioned to being fully together, no separation.
Feeding: Same as above. Still closely supervised.
Daytime: Started foraging etc as 1 unified flock.
Around this time, about 1 week after we had first put both flocks in the same coop at night with a separation fence, we decided that they were ready to be combined at night. One evening, we found that all of the individuals from both flocks had gone into the older flock's section of the coop, and were settling in for the night. At that moment we removed the chicken wire separation, and from then on both flocks had full access to the entire coop.
Post-Combining Issues
Generally everybody got along well. As the feeding/watering combined, there were 1 or 2 older individuals who would be territorial about that. So feeding times had to be monitored for a long time.
Because of the size difference, if the flock would startle and run very quickly, sometimes the younger individuals would fall and get stepped on accidentally by the older individuals, not injured thankfully.
At this point, though, it's one big happy flock.
(I had this all written out and more, but for some reason it disappeared just before I hit “post reply.”
