New Pullets - integration question

[RavenEh]

Hi,

I got two new pullets - around 6 weeks old. My current chicks are 9-10 weeks old. I kept the new babies in a space nearby so they could get used to each other and the sounds - and now I've introduced them.

Two of the current chicks - one pullet and one rooster - are chasing and trying to scare the two new pullets and even some pecking although they don't seem to be hurting them at all and I am not sure if the pecking is actually making contact or not. They chase them every time the new ones come near them. There are a couple of the older chicks who don't seem to mind the new ones.

I have them separated when I'm not around to watch them and at night. I am planning to put them together 24/7 as soon as I feel confident they won't get hurt. They're lovely little pullets and I don't want anything to happen to them. The current birds are EE mixes - and three are roosters and will be re-homed anyway - and the new ones are gold laced wyandottes.

Thoughts? Is this normal? Any advice? Thanks so much!

 

[aart]

As long as there is no serious blood letting, and noone is getting pinned down/trapped and beaten.....
......let them figure it out their pecking order, it shouldn't take long.
Every time you separate them, the process starts again.
But the newbies will always be lower on the pecking order than the older ones, at least until the youngers start to lay.

Lots of space, multiple feed/water stations and places to hide 'out of line of sight' and/or up and away from aggressors are a must during integration.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[RavenEh]

Thank you! This is great - exactly what I needed! I tried to search but everything I found just said about the quarantine (which I did). I will put together a couple private hiding places for the little girls and make sure they have access to food and water in those spaces. Thanks so much!