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Welcome to Backyard Chickens
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N F C said:
:welcome

Here's a link to a good article on integrating & adding to your flock that may be helpful:
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Adding new birds to an existing flock shakes up the group dynamics and there's some adjusting for everyone to do.

Best of luck!
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I loved this article! It seems like we are on the right track so far! And time flys! Our new girls are 6 weeks old not four... For the first introduction, we took our most docile chicken out to free range with the newbies. She ran from the curious babies. Then we brought another one, the next most docile. It went well too. We lastly brought out Nugget, our leader, and she was fine too. That's pretty much where we are at. :)
 
Crazychickenlady007 said:
I loved this article! It seems like we are on the right track so far! And time flys! Our new girls are 6 weeks old not four... For the first introduction, we took our most docile chicken out to free range with the newbies. She ran from the curious babies. Then we brought another one, the next most docile. It went well too. We lastly brought out Nugget, our leader, and she was fine too. That's pretty much where we are at. :)
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Sounds like you're off to a good start!

Glad the article was helpful too...there are a lot of good ones in the Learning Center.
 
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Glad to hear your integration is under way! I added 3 littles last year and just moved my newest babies to the coop today (2.5 weeks old) and hoping for the same type of easy early integration. I would think 14 youngsters would fare pretty well as a group... I wonder if your older girls might be a little intimidated by all of the newbies, if that's the reason they're being not-so-nice? The bigger they get, the more of a threat they become. You're doing good keeping them separated for everyone's safety, but be sure to let them see each other as much as possible. It might help to put feeders on each side of a wire divider so they can get used to being together while eating. Also offer more perches and places for the little ones to hide.

Here's a few more helpful links:
Integrating at 4 weeks old
See But Don’t Touch
Coop Brooder and Integration

I start with hardware cloth fencing then switch to a picket style divider that the chicks can fit through (3.5" spaces) but the big ones can't. This gives them ability to mingle but run back to safety if needed. Before you know it, they'll be roosting all together!
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