Is this safe?

[aart]

How can I tell when they’re ready to be together? They all seem very calm and the old girls seem interested in the new girls but not bothered.

Up to you when to let them mingle.
Give it a try, can always confine the newbies again if there is trouble.
Or confine the oldsters to let the newbies get the lay of the land with out harassment.

 

[cmom]

It's too late to quarantine so just skip that and worry about integration instead. For security, once you move the crate inside the run I would place it away from the run walls to prevent predators from simply reaching in and grabbing the hens.

Up to you when to let them mingle.
Give it a try, can always confine the newbies again if there is trouble.
Or confine the oldsters to let the newbies get the lay of the land with out harassment.

I agree, but as long as there are no issues I would put them with your other birds. Most likely nothing will happen and everyone will be fine. If you get more birds in the future you will be better prepared. Good luck and have fun...

 

[rosemarythyme]

How can I tell when they’re ready to be together? They all seem very calm and the old girls seem interested in the new girls but not bothered.

I would consider giving it a go, with supervision, since ideally you want them to be somewhat disinterested in each other before you let them have contact.

 

[Agsgranik]

So, they’ve been together for three days and nights. Old girls chase new girls around a bit, but no damage or blood. New girls quite adept at running away old girls seem content with that. Here’s my question: I left the large dog crate in the run with the door open. The new girls have been sleeping there still each night. Someone laid an egg in the nesting boxes in the coop today, so that seems like progress. Should I just leave them alone or remove the dog run?

 

[rosemarythyme]

So, they’ve been together for three days and nights. Old girls chase new girls around a bit, but no damage or blood. New girls quite adept at running away old girls seem content with that. Here’s my question: I left the large dog crate in the run with the door open. The new girls have been sleeping there still each night. Someone laid an egg in the nesting boxes in the coop today, so that seems like progress. Should I just leave them alone or remove the dog run?

I'd probably give them a few more days with current set up and if things are still going well, you can close and remove the dog crate at that time. The new girls will be confused and probably return to the spot where the crate was once night comes, but if you pick them up and manually put them into the coop, they should figure out the coop is where they need to go, hopefully within a few days.

 

[Agsgranik]

Went to check on them this evening…four hens in the coop, zero in the dog run!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Went to check on them this evening…four hens in the coop, zero in the dog run!

Excellent! Probably pretty safe to remove the crate tomorrow then, assuming all goes well overnight.