It's been over a week since I removed the see thru fencing to merge my young pullets (now a little over 10 wks)...

[bayareapilot]

You mean will the cockerel and his pullets move into the larger hen house on their own? Do you have two houses going into one run? Confused.

That's kind of the way it works. There's actually two corrals so to speak. On one side the left side of the yard is the fenced area that holds both the cockrell and it's two pullets and then the separate space and coop for my original 10 + year old hens that I'm keeping separate from the rest of the flock. In between these two corrales so to speak, there is a walkway and there's a corridor actually made of old bee hive boxes that connects between the fence corral where the Cockerel and his two pullets have their Coop that leads into the large open run area. at the very top of the large open run area is where I had built the very much larger chicken coop, where the youngest chickens are.

by the way he's paid some visits to the new house just popping his head in for a look-see but that's about it

Hope that helps.

 

[Sonya9]

That's kind of the way it works. There's actually two corrals so to speak. On one side the left side of the yard is the fenced area that holds both the cockrell and it's two pullets and then the separate space and coop for my original 10 + year old hens that I'm keeping separate from the rest of the flock. In between these two corrales so to speak, there is a walkway and there's a corridor actually made of old bee hive boxes that connects between the fence corral where the Cockerel and his two pullets have their Coop that leads into the large open run area. at the very top of the large open run area is where I had built the very much larger chicken coop, where the youngest chickens are.

Hope that helps.

Actually that is confusing but you said they do get along in one run. If there is no rush I would probably wait until the pullets are laying before moving the other 3 into their coop. Once they are laying the flock will come together as the cockerel will claim ALL of them as his hens. He may start roosting with them on his own, but if you have to move them that won't be a big deal by then.

If you move them before they are one flock the older birds will probably chase the younger ones off the roosts. You can try it now if you want but it could lead to lots of roosting drama so it may not be worth the hassle and there is no point in stressing out the birds unnecessarily.

 

[gclarrot]

It took a month for my Buff orphingtons to get “chummy” with my EEs. They all pile up together on the roost bars except two of them. They are best friends. They do their own thing together. But now 2 moths later they are just fine.

I do have one dominant hen that likes to give them a gentle peck if she’s enjoying a treat/food and she wants them to go away. She’s definitely what I consider , head hen.

I did something very similar to you. I kept them in an xlarge dog crate, then after 3 weeks they were just fine with some minor pecking that wasn’t as severe as I assumed it was going to be. I started though with “field trips” in the run with the dog crate then full time housing in it until they were big enough and no one was pecking anymore through the dog crate.

 

[BigECart]

The thing that I was surprised about was that in the initial integrations, a couple of my dominant pullets were the ones who were aggressive to the hens. That didn’t last long! Mine have been fully integrated for at least a month. Definitely still have 2 separate flocks. I don’t have a rooster, unless one of my pullets is a stealth cockerel. All of my pullets sleep on the day roost, with the hens hogging the night roost. (I don’t have a conventional coop - just a run with a protected area for the night roost.)

 

[bayareapilot]

Actually that is confusing but you said they do get along in one run. If there is no rush I would probably wait until the pullets are laying before moving the other 3 into their coop. Once they are laying the flock will come together as the cockerel will claim ALL of them as his hens. He may start roosting with them on his own, but if you have to move them that won't be a big deal by then.

If you move them before they are one flock the older birds will probably chase the younger ones off the roosts. You can try it now if you want but it could lead to lots of roosting drama so it may not be worth the hassle and there is no point in stressing out the birds unnecessarily.

sorry if it's unclear. I wanted to state that I have no intention of forcing a coop living arrangement on either group I'm just going to let them pick what they want. they want to stay and their respective coops for roosting that's fine by me. So there'll be no conflict no drama they'll pick as they see fit..

The whole purpose of my post was to find out what they typically do when they get combined when they have quarters of different sizes do they go gravitate toward the larger quarter and go there or do they just continue living in the areas they're respectively comfortable in. That's all my question was about

 

[aart]

The whole purpose of my post was to find out what they typically do when they get combined when they have quarters of different sizes do they go gravitate toward the larger quarter and go there or do they just continue living in the areas they're respectively comfortable in. That's all my question was about

They gravitate toward the coop they are familiar with....size doesn't matter.
If you want all the birds in the larger coop, you have to block off the other coop.

 

[bayareapilot]

They gravitate toward the coop they are familiar with....size doesn't matter.
If you want all the birds in the larger coop, you have to block off the other coop.

That's kind of what I thought but I wasn't sure. That's fine with me if everyone wants to stay where they feel comfortable. All the better for the group as a whole anyway and the younger pullets will get to enjoy spacious roosting quarters. They'll think they're in a five star chicken hotel.

 

[bayareapilot]

What I was wondering is do they eventually get chummier as time goes along? I fully realize that they have only been together/combined for slightly over a week so I wasn't expecting any major hanging out together yet; I was just more wondering how things normally progress as we move further into the weeks ahead and what is normal and what is not normal?

I have loved the certainty of the sex-links (Golden Comets) as I have all females as I intended (four of them).

Thanks in advance for any insights you can share!

UPDATE:

Well the four Comets are now 16 weeks old and the flock they were combined with are now a little over 10 months old.

So, I thought I'd share with y'all where they are now to get some perspective on how things are going - so far I think things are okay; although I've never blended a flock before.

So, the four Comets (pullets) still are functioning a bit like a sub-flock (from what I understand that means?). In the large shared 'open' run area the two flocks seem to function like things were when we were in elementary school; that is there is one time of the day which seems to be for the big kids to play and then the time of day the young kids have recess in the remote area. Then there is a time of day where the 'playground' has the 'big kids' and the 'little kids' for recess.

I have noticed lately, now that the Comets (who are only 16 weeks old) are just about as big as the 10 month old pullets that there are more efforts on part of the 10 month old pullets and the cockerell to do occasional 'chases' of the subflock. There doesn't seem to be any effort to get hold of the younger Comets, or hurt them, more like a big kid seeing if he can scare the little kids, a little bit. The cockerell does this occasionally. Having said the latter, during the 'joint recess time' they all seem to go about their play (although not between the two flocks) without incident.

Despite the chasing behavior, the Comets seem to feel just fine about walking over through the 'tunnel' to the older pullets and cokerells homw and have a bite to eat in their coop. Likewise one of the older pullets will, now and then, go into the younger pullets house and have some of their food and water.

The Comets (now 16 weeks old as I previously mentioned) are definitely at the stage where if the older pullets or cockerell say 'jump' they immediately respond 'how high' - in a manner of speaking. I guess I'd describe the relationship between the two flocks ias one where the younger pullets don't regularly 'fear' the older flock; BUT they clearly respect efforts to put them in their place. If I remember correctly they've now been together (living in separate coops) in the 'open' run area for five or six weeks or so, so far.

SO, that's what's happening. So, I guess (???) things are going 'normally'? I don't have any experience with blending before so I am unsure if this is how things go - again, they *seem* to me to be doing fine??? Am curious how this sounds to those who have more experience with blending....

 

[Folly's place]

It all sounds good to me! We too have groups of different ages, and that's how it goes most of the time. Nobody gets hurt, but hatchmates do stick together, often for a long time.
Mary

 

[The Homestead CEO]

Good thread...I have to say the same thing for our flock(s)...I was expecting all sorts of madness integrating with some of the horror stories I've read. Saw the "see don't touch" method here and gave it a shot....Easy-peasy.

We had a flock of new layers(7)...I ordered all hens from Mc Murrays, an additional 7...we don't want no roosters! They offered me a surprise chick on top of my order so not being someone to turn down a free chick, I said "SURE!!!" with joy...Yep, got the "Surprise" chick...a cock...lol...SURPRISE!!! ;-) ...But I digress...

integrated for about 2 weeks in the evenings in a feeding area away from coop separated just by a roll of hardware cloth...Chicks were about 6 weeks....lots of interest, a little pecking and for the most part let them be...That's when I realized we had a rooster with the neck flaring...lol.

after 2 weeks I started the sub-flock in their own coop and slowly observer free ranging a hour at a time....Then, POOF...Full integration, but as others stated here it is most definitely a sub-flock.....little charges, a peck here or there, no blood...No harm, no fowl.

We'll see where this goes...They constantly go into each others coops to eat and drink and hide from hawks(2 on our property and 3 on surrounding properties...Sigh), but no doubt that Alpha flock rules, Sub-flock goes wherever Alpha isn't....Very curious to see how our Rooster in the sub-flock integrates over time with Alpha.