Need Advice ASAP. New Birds Joining Flock.

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I asked this question a couple days ago, but I didn't get any responses. So here it goes again.

I have two bantams, (Golden Sebrights) a cockerel and a pullet. They are going to be 16 weeks old this weekend and are quite small compared to my other chickens.

My other chickens includes two Dark Brahmas, two Production Reds and two Black Australorps. They are all over a year old and they are all hens.

I have had the two bantams in a large dog crate in my coop for a couple weeks now. They can see the other birds, but the big girls cannot hurt the chicks. I have taken them outside with the big girls on various occasions and I supervise them together. The big girls could definitely hurt the bantams if they wanted to. One of my Dark Brahmas is especially aggressive. I'm not sure if she is the dominant hen or not, but she just doesn't like the chicks.

My question is, what is the best way I can introduce these two bantams into the flock? I was told to put them on the roost at night time when it is pitch dark, but due to the huge size difference I'm scared I will come into the coop the next morning to find two dead chicks.

I'm not sure what the best thing to do is here. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[roz]

There is no sure fire way to smoothly introduce new chickens to a flock in my opinion. I recently even had trouble with chicks that were 2 and a half weeks apart. They could see each other in the brooder, had supervised playtime that went well, but when I removed them from their dog crate to integrate it was mayhem and the little ones were trapped in one spot looking at the walls the entire time. I ended up putting the crate back in, and it wasn't until I moved them all to their new run/coop as a whole flock that they managed to tolerate each other. A couple of years ago I integrated 2 full grown hens into my flock of 8 and it was bad too. One of the new hens had to hang out on the chicken door for a few days before she was allowed down. Thankfully she was submissive enough not to fight back. They are fine now. My 3rd experience with integration was when I had a sick chicken in my house for a week ( a big Cochin). I had a feeling getting her back out would be tough because the others wouldn't consider her part of the flock anymore. I had my whole family involved. We took out several different types of treats...flock block, scratch, and hanging greens. At first it was ok, but then they realized she was there and there was some bloodshed. They eventually got over it too, but it's not fun. I've heard people saying that putting them in at night worked well, but I would share your concerns as well. Good luck. Sorry I don't have any good advice for you.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Thank you for your response. I brought the chicks and hens to an unfamiliar location (my driveway) yesterday and fed them all bread together. The big girls were going after them a little but the chicks just flew and pecked them back. They were pretty scared though. I'm going to do the same today. Then seperate the dark brahma (the one that is mean to the chicks) and put a cage in my coop with a small opening that only the chicks can get through. I'm going to place them on the roost at night and hope that they do okay.