New hens introduced/egg laying behaviour ?

[Buckwheat77]

Hello everyone! After a long debate, our two EEs are in fact ladies!
we recently got two new girls. We recently introduced them to the new coop and they have had a rough time settling in. Our two new girls are RIR 19 weeks and the two EEs are 21 weeks. After about a week, my two new RIRs have been able to stay around the same spots without running away from our EE girls (this excites them andusually Ends up in them chasing the RIRs and pecking them). They don’t peck faces, just their feathers on their back. I believe this is normal?

I have also seen them squatting like this recently in the morning and later on in the day (see picture in coop). I’m wondering if it is them protecting the coop or if it means they might be getting ready to lay. I live in Canada and it is getting colder, but this last week has been really warm - around 12-18 degrees Celsius.
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[azygous]

They should be about halfway integrated and adjusted. It takes time. Be glad you just have four getting used to one another. It's a much bigger production with more.

Plenty of space, plenty of roosting space, plenty of feeders, all work in your favor. In another two weeks, they will likely behave as if they've all known each other from the beginning.

Laying is another issue. By the time the RIRs get used to their new home, the days may be too short to keep the hormones operating.

 

[Buckwheat77]

They should be about halfway integrated and adjusted. It takes time. Be glad you just have four getting used to one another. It's a much bigger production with more.

Plenty of space, plenty of roosting space, plenty of feeders, all work in your favor. In another two weeks, they will likely behave as if they've all known each other from the beginning.

Laying is another issue. By the time the RIRs get used to their new home, the days may be too short to keep the hormones operating.

Thank you ! We have 2 feeders in the coop and 1 water dispenser as well as 2 feeders and a water dispenser in their run. This has definitely helped ! We also let them out to run around a lot in our large yard and this helps. With the shorter days, we did expect to maybe have to wait until it warms up for some eggs but I wasn’t sure if the EE in the one picture is just protecting the coop or if she is squatting before egg laying. This is my first set of chickens! Thank you for all your words of advice !