New coop for older hens and the new babies - when do I introduce them

[BrunsLilAcres]

Hello,

Need some help regarding integrating my older hens with my younger hens. We built a new hen house, a lot larger than the older one. We have the teens (as I call them) in there now. The teens are approximately 3 months old and 3/4 the size of my older hens. The older hens are still in the original hen house. Should I bring in my older hens to the new hen house during the night or should I just let them come in during the day when the teens are out? I just don't want to lose any. I have 14 teens and 11 hens. (We have 6 babies but they are in the new hen house and in their own little area. They can see the teens and the teens can see them. We figure one evening we will open the side door and let them out into the big hen area at night)

 

[Judy]

This is a great writeup on the subject. You can skip the first part for yours, on quarantine.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[abharris54]

We started with 3 grown hens and have gotten a handful of chicks (now teens) and have integrated them all. We built a smaller pen and but it in the larger run and put the chicks in the small pen and the hens in the large run. This way, they could get used to being around each other, but not have actual access to one another. after a bit, we would prop the door to the small pen open enough for the chicks to come and go but the hens couldnt get in, and the chicks could run in there to get away from the hens is they wanted to. When the chicks started to roost with the grown hens, they didn't need the small pen anymore. It worked wonderfully for us.
I have also heard that at roosting time, if you take the new birds and put them on the roost, when they all wake up, the old hens would accept them, but I haven't done that personally, so I cant guarantee that would work.
Good luck!

 

[BrunsLilAcres]

Thank you for your reply.

 

[BrunsLilAcres]

Thanks for the link/