Merging young flock with old

[treeowl]

Quote:
I certainly will let you know but knowing me I'll have a new chicken coop built onto the existing one and just have two flocks. I can't imagine going through that again although I only have 5 new ones, oh well I just want them to be safe and happy, they are such a joy and give me hours of relaxing entertainment, I can watch them for hours on end. My older chicken that got caught in the crossfire died last night. I just feel terrible. It is so sad because my chickens are NOT for food they are my pets, I do enjoy the benefit of the eggs but I don't eat my chickens. If we do try a merge it will be at least several months until they are large enough to defend themselves on an equal level.

 

[ScotianChick]

Does anyone know if 12 weeks would be okay with year old hens? I have had them separated for almost two weeks now but their pen is filled with mud from all the rain we've been having so I opened it to let them go explore with the others. My five old ones seem to be ignoring them mostly except one of my RIRs. She's a bit of an instigator. But I left the pen open so the little ones can get back in if they choose.

 

[DAFox]

I always wait until the chickens are close in size.

One strategy I use when putting a small number of younger chickens with a larger number of older chickens is to put a couple of the older chickens in with the younger ones. The younger chickens outnumber the older ones and this way get used to each other easier. Then, I may put a couple more of the older chickens in the same pen as the younger ones for a day or two. Then, I put them all together.
On friday, I'll be putting 2 JG hens that are full sized, a smallish lav orp hen that used to be with the flock, and 10 young ones in with about 15 of my flock in their coop. The rest will be penned elsewhere. Once I feel things are ok, I'll add the rest.
Dale-Ann

 

[flitter]

Would it be possible to let them acclimate to each other by letting them out together to free range? Or would the "abuse" just cover more area? I'm thinking they might not be territorial outside their own coops?

 

[kristip]

Well I recently went through with this and will give you my successes and failures and see if anyone has tips. First, we built the coop to hold 8-10 birds. We were planning on 6 but chicken math at its best and there are 8 birds at our house now. lol.

Anyway- We had 5 birds that were 9 months to a little over a year old in our coop. We got most of them as 6 month olds so this is all new. Of those 5, 4 were very gentle birds that let my kids pick them up. One hates people. Then I acquired a sweet little silkie... my dream bird. And we raised 2 baby chicks from day olds. that is how we get to 8.
So... we tried the night integration a few weeks ago with the silkie to the other birds. Seemed ok that first night, but next morning she got her back plucked and after 2 days of picking on her, I puller her and put her in an old rabbit cage to recoop. Last weekend was my chicks 12 week birthday and I wanted to move them in with the big birds as they are 3/4 the size of most of the birds and bigger than the silkie by far.

This time my friend said to put them all in during the day and deluge them in treats and fresh hay in coop and new sand in run. We have 3 food bowls and 2 water bowls right now. Well the babies ( 12 week olds) spent alot of time in the coop rather than the run- dont know if it was fear, staying out of the way or cool weather. They are coming out now, but spend alot of time up on perches and away from other chickens still. THey got a few pecks on their combs, but nothing major. My friend swaped me the mean bird for a nicely handled BO. So we put her in at same time. She fought with my other head hen and lost a few tail feathers, but otherwise seems ok. The silkie has again ahd her back plucked and when she runs past 2 of the birds, they chase her. Now ... unlike those babies that seem to stay out of the way, she wants to be down where all the other birds are so she is in the way. Not sure what to do, her back is pretty bald. Maybe I can make a saddle for her to wear to cover those spots. still feel bad for her getting picked on, but dotn want to pull her out so she looses all status in there.
My hubby says if we dont figure it out, we send her back to the farm. She is so sweet... my ideal would be to get her another bantam friend and keep them in the bunny cage adn add a dog kennel for a run. ( I see them on craigslist for $50 all the time) But he is not wanting more stuff in our yard. Sigh... any thoughts. Others have integrated nice, but just the little silkie with issues.

 

[mommymem]

I've read alot but we're still unsure.. We have 2 yr old Buff Orpingtons.
We'd like to add chicks. What age would be best to start with?
Any specific breed better to go with to join our little flock?
We're only looking to add 4 more.

Thanks for all the great advice. So glad I found this forum!!

 

[DAFox]

Quote:
I keep my Silkies separated from LF. I have one Silkie with other bantam/small chickens. These chickens don't have a roost, since the Silkie doesn't roost. (Like most Silkies, unless the roost is fairly near to the ground.) Is there a way to divide the coop to give the Silkie and 1 or 2 of your other chickens an area to themselves for awhile? See how that goes? Then put the Silkie, the 2 other birds and 2 more in the bigger area, while separating the few others in the smaller space. When things seem good, take the divider out and see if it will work?
Either that or give the Silkie a friend and leave the separator up for quite some time and only let the whole group together when you can supervise.
Good luck,
Dale-Ann

 

[zelica]

Love this thread it has been helpful. We are close to having to add our little chicks to our new full grown hen and have put them in for the day and pull them at night. Not all there feathers are in yet. The hen does not seem to mind them so far but I was very nervous introducing them this thread has helped and given good strategies

 

[grandmas Nest]

Iam with you all. I have 5 ee's and 4 cinnimon queens that are 1 1/2 years old in one coop and run and 20 BR's and 5 EE's that are 10 weeks old in the other coop and run. They are seperated by fencing and they have been that way for a month now. I want to try opening gates to let them mix but I wasn't sure how to do their food as I didn't want my babies getting the layer pellets yet. I do have oyster shell in a seperate feeder for my layers also. Do I just give them all the grower food? My to coops are 8 x 8, but once I get them mixed I will be selling a few of my BR's, but thought once I mix them together I can sell the ones that don't seem to fit in with the others. I also have 5 leghorns in the house yet. They are only 2 weeks old so will have to do this again in 2 to 3 months with them. That chicken math just got me. Plus wanting the different colors of eggs. With my coops opened and the gate between the runs (sq ft in runs 404 ) I could have 30 chickens total. But may cut back to 25. Just so this winter if they don't go in run they won't be crowded in coops.

 

[flitter]

Two days ago I put 3 one week old Welsummers under my determined Broody Dom. She's loving them! I wish I'd stuck the 6 Dom babies under her, too. At least the Wels will be acclimated to their new flock. Do you suppose she'd accept new chicks now?

It's funny she hatched out a chick last year. She was in a regular nesting box and it didn't seem to bother her that the rest of the flock was around. So I just left her there this year. Today I was adding wood chips to the run and two of the grown birds decided they'd go inside. They came back out twice as fast! She had the little ones out inside. I read the thread about how to handle a broody hen last night but she's worked out her own method.