Merging new ones into flock

[DJWick]

I'll try to keep it short so it's not TL;DR. I'm trying to merge five 12-week-old chicks into an existing flock of three old hens and five younger hens. We raised the five younger hens from eggs, and had no problem integrating them. The five new chicks are pullets from Cackle Hatchery.

The problem is that the five chicks and the five younger hens have exact opposite personalities. The first batch of chick/pullets, the younger hens, were assertive, and insisted on being accepted by the old hens. They'd dive right into the older hens' territory, get chased and pecked, and come back for more until the old hens finally gave up. They are fully integrated now.

This new batch of chicks, Buff Orpingtons, are not the least bit assertive. They are very sweet and gentle. As soon as I remove the divider between them and the rest of the flock in the chicken run they jump up into their safe spot and very rarely try to come down. The minute one does come down, one of the hens chases her and she immediately jumps back up to her safe spot. This can go on for a whole day until I finally give up and put up the divider so the chicks can get food and water without being harassed.

I've got several ideas about what to do about this personality problem, but none of them seem to have a clear, successful end in sight. If anyone is interested in helping me tackle this problem I can post further information about my chicken setup, and what I have tried so far. Like I said, these are sweet girls, not the least assertive or aggressive, and in hindsight really don't fit in with the others. But I like them a lot, and want to try to make it work. BTW, no rooster.

I'm all ears, and appreciate any suggestions.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos of your set up, with measurements if possible? How long have you had the new Buff Orps in the divided area?

 

[Debbie292d]

We just integrated eight 5-month old silkies to the coop from their growout pen on the complete other side of the yard, so around 2 acres away.

We put them in the coop Thursday night, on the lower "roosts." I put food/water outside of the coop, knowing they wouldn't have gotten any before we let them out in the morning. They all free range, but these eight stick pretty close to the coop.

Friday night, five of the eight went back to the coop. The others were close. Saturday night, they all went in. Tonight, seven of eight went in. Every morning, they've got food/water outside.

I'll do this for a couple of weeks until I know they are able to get food/water inside the coop.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Photos of your set up, with measurements if possible? How long have you had the new Buff Orps in the divided area?

I'm also interested in how much room you have, it does not sound like a lot. It is so much easier to suggest things if we know what you are working with.

While each brood is different and you can always have exceptions, it is typical for my chicks to avoid the adults until they start laying. Then they are accepted into the flock. Mine have lots of room to avoid the adults during the day and enough room to sleep separately at night.

My goal is not that they immediately become best friends, eating and sleeping together. My goal is that no one gets hurt. They will become one flock when they start to lay. With all of the room I have it is pretty easy. but there are techniques you can use when space is tighter. I'd want to know what you have to work with before I can make any specific suggestions.

 

[DJWick]

The chicken run is a typical 10x20 Amazon tubing and chicken wire thing. The one on the right is a small coop with a little bit of a run where the old hens roost. It's kind of their retirement home. The gray shingled one in the back is a real nice new coop I built from plans I bought, with the intention that the five young hens and the five orpies would roost there together. So far, it's only the young hens that go in there every night. This was taken from our MB window, hence why no rooster.

In the photo on the left you can see a couple of the orpies wanting out through the fence that divides them from the rest of the run. The thing of it is that if I went out there and opened up the divider they would immediately run back to their safe spot on their coop. You can see one end of the little coop they graduated to from their brooder in our living room when they were about seven weeks old. Their safe spot is at the other end of that little coop where there is a kind of shelf thing that's big enough for only the five of them to hop up on, so the hens don't try to crowd up there to hassle them.

This setup worked beautifully with the previous batch of chicks, who are now the mean young hens who are not letting the orpies come out.

I hope this helps explain my situation.

 

[DJWick]

I'd want to know what you have to work with before I can make any specific suggestions.

My reply with answers to the questions hit about the same time as your comment. Please let me know if I can answer further questions.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like a good set-up. That looks perfect for the "safe haven" concept except that your 12-week-olds are probably too big for that method. That is where you have openings big enough for the little ones to get through but the big ones cannot. You might consider that if you do this again later.

Where do you have your food and water? Do you have widely separated food and water stations so the chicks can eat and drink without being bullied by the older ones? From what I can see it looks like you have three, one in each run. That's not bad.

But I don't see any clutter. Mine is big enough that I don't need it but yours isn't that big and it is set up so the bullies can see everywhere. Clutter is things the chicks can hide under or behind, or get up high enough, so the older chickens cannot easily see them. It really helps if the food and water is kind of hidden.

You do not want to set up a dead end where a chick could be trapped by an older chicken. You need an escape route. Some typical types of clutter might be a sheet of plywood or paneling leaning against a fence (attached so it cannot blow down), something like an old antenna dish up on cinder blocks, or maybe a table sitting in there. Just use your imagination and consider what you have on hand. Perches high enough that the older ones can't peck their feet can help.

Have you considered putting your three old hens and the five younger hens in that new coop together and the five chicks in the "retirement home"? I think that is the way I'd set it up. It looks like they would be more "hidden" in there. When they mature enough to start laying they should move in the larger coop on their own.

Good luck!

 

[DJWick]

Looks like a good set-up. That looks perfect for the "safe haven" concept except that your 12-week-olds are probably too big for that method. That is where you have openings big enough for the little ones to get through but the big ones cannot. You might consider that if you do this again later.

Where do you have your food and water? Do you have widely separated food and water stations so the chicks can eat and drink without being bullied by the older ones? From what I can see it looks like you have three, one in each run. That's not bad.

But I don't see any clutter. Mine is big enough that I don't need it but yours isn't that big and it is set up so the bullies can see everywhere. Clutter is things the chicks can hide under or behind, or get up high enough, so the older chickens cannot easily see them. It really helps if the food and water is kind of hidden.

You do not want to set up a dead end where a chick could be trapped by an older chicken. You need an escape route. Some typical types of clutter might be a sheet of plywood or paneling leaning against a fence (attached so it cannot blow down), something like an old antenna dish up on cinder blocks, or maybe a table sitting in there. Just use your imagination and consider what you have on hand. Perches high enough that the older ones can't peck their feet can help.

Have you considered putting your three old hens and the five younger hens in that new coop together and the five chicks in the "retirement home"? I think that is the way I'd set it up. It looks like they would be more "hidden" in there. When they mature enough to start laying they should move in the larger coop on their own.

Good luck!

I've thought about swapping out the old hens with the orpies, but saw too many issues with doing that. The old hens have been there for three years now, and it would be very stressful for them to change. And, besides, the old hens and the younger hens all lay their eggs in the egg boxes for that coop. For some reason, the newer hens don't like using the egg boxes in the brand new coop that I built them.

I appreciate your wisdom about things getting straightened out once the orpie chicks start laying eggs. I hadn't realized that, which gives me some time.

I do have some "structure" in the run, like a big tree stump I manhandled into there, a 2x2 foot dust bath box, and a couple other things. But I don't have anything like you mentioned with some cover over it. I'll tackle that as a project.

As I said, though, it's getting the orpies to even try to venture out that's the problem.