I've seen quite a bit of information about this topic, but I am having problems and still don't know what to do. I started raising chickens last year when I bought 3 adult leghorn mix hens. This spring I decided to expand my flock and bought 6 black star chicks; they are currently just over 10 weeks old. While they were growing I added a section to my existing run that could be separated using the existing run's gate. Unfortunately, I was not able to build a temporary coop for them to stay in. So, for 3 weeks I would keep them inside in their pen at night and take them out in the morning. I figured that allowing the existing flock see the pullets through the fence would help with the integration. Every once in a while they would reach through the fence to give a pullet a peck, but I expected that. The pullets are now too big for my indoor pen, they are nearly as big as the hens, and over the weekend I opened the gate between the two runs. The hens were not happy and terrorized the pullets such that for the first day they hardly moved from under a sheltered area in the run. I figured this would last for a few days while the chickens worked things out. It just doesn't seem to be getting any better. The pullets are so afraid of the hens that they won't even go into the coop at night, I've been placing them in the coop every night. Last night, the hens were in a truly foul (no pun intended) mood and had the pullets cowering in a corner. I'm not sure what I can do at this point to facilitate the flock integration. I'm afraid the hens may hurt the pullets at night, but don't have any options but to force them together in the coop. Will this get any better? If so, does anyone have any idea how long before the hens may accept the presence of the pullets? Any suggestions short of building a separate coop area are welcome.
