Introductions

[kedwards31]

I have 5 9 month old hens and 5 6week old pullets that I am ready to transition out to the coop, the are large and fully feathered. I have an escape area in the run set where I will also keep the little ones food and water, away from the hens, since they are still on medicated starter food. But in the coop I do not have an oasis in place. My hens perch on the roosting poles are night so I would think that the smaller ones could just hang out on the floor away from the hens. Is this a good idea or should I create a haven space f or them inside the coop??

 

[lazy gardener]

How big is your coop? Bigs can gang up on littles and kill them. The general recommendation is to wait until they are the same size. But, I've had good success beginning the integration around 8 - 9 weeks. It would not be uncommon for the bigs to not even allow the littles into the coop. Have you put them within protected sight of each other yet? In the coop, but with a wire divider between them? That would be the first step, followed by supervision in the run or free range, then in the coop with a safe haven so they can get away from the bigs. At least that's the way I progress my littles.

 

[aart]

Yeah, need an escape area in the coop too.

I partitioned an escape area in my coop and built a separate run, got tired of moving them from coop to run everyday during integration.