Not getting along, or even tolerating....

[Erin80]

I don’t know what to do. I put my six 8 week olds with my 6 one year olds about a week ago. A week later, the babies still spend the day cowering in the corner, if they make any kind of move to do anything, they get immediately chased and pecked. I have to go sit in there a few times a day to stand guard while the littles eat and drink.
Is this normal?? How long does this go on?? Have I done something wrong? I have 3 watering dishes outside in the run, and food for both....and our run is huge. I have little places for the babies to hide, and they do use that....but as soon as anyone comes out they get pecked and chased. Sometimes one of the big chickens will just randomly charge at the little ones out of nowhere.
Besides my faverolle, who is on her own now, no one has any visible injuries.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In feet or meters, how big is huge? Also how many coops do you have and, in feet or meters, how big are they? How are your coops and runs laid out? Photos might help. Do the young sleep in the same coop with the adults or do they have their own bedroom? How many are hens or roosters, pullets or cockerels? Is it specific chicks getting attacked?

A lot of that behavior sounds pretty normal. Until they mature enough to force their way into the pecking order the immature birds keep away from the mature birds. Usually my pullets mature about the time they start laying eggs. The mature birds outrank the immature birds in the pecking order and are often not that shy about enforcing those rights. That's why I'm interested in the size and layout of your facilities, do they actually have enough room to avoid the adults. A lot of the time this type of behavior is due to crowded conditions.

What is not that normal is an adult going out of her way to charge the chicks. Occasionally you will get a hen like that, a brute that just attacks out of the blue but it's not that common if you have a lot of room. Is it the same hen that does the attacking? She may be your real problem.

Is there a specific place or time this happens? Is it when they are locked in the coop together in the morning or as they are going to bed at night or does it also happen in the middle of the day?

So what can you do? A lot depends on the size and layout of your facilities and what is actually going n during the attacks. Can you make a safe haven/panic room that only the young can get into, with food and water in there? Do the young have a safe place to sleep if that is when the attacks take place? Did you house them side by side across wire for a week or more before you let then together? Sometimes that helps.

Often it is just one or a very few that do the actual attacking, though the rest may join in once she starts. If you can identify the troublemaker isolating her entirely from the flock for a week or more might change her attitude. If she is just a brute at heart and she can't get over it, you might want to consider permanently removing her form your flock.

It can be challenging to give specific advice or suggestions when you don't know what the facilities look like or what is actually happening.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I have never had success putting chicks together with adult chickens. I wait until the chicks are 3 or 4 months old and start by free ranging them with the other adults at first. I have found that slowly the two flocks will get to know one another and integrate without pecking each other. They all end up in one coop together! All on their own! Good luck with your flock!

 

[chickens really]

Look no touch pen and in reality sometimes they never become one flock but two sub groups..Large Coop and Run is needed..

 

[RWise]

My chicks go to an outdoor brood house at 2-3 days old. The flock can visit but not touch. They stay there until 5 weeks old, by 5 weeks old they are roosting ,even in the winter. At 5 weeks old they go into the main flock and I have absolutely no problems. (maybe a few days of "I dont want to go in") I use 3x3 fencing to provide an area the little ones can get away from the big ones, with food. Multiple water sources also. and many hiding places
Yes there is a pecking order to learn, and they will learn that fast.
My "run" is 225' x 150' so there is plenty of room for all.
My coop has roosts at 2' 4' 6' and 8' with ladders and mezzanines at 4' and 6', plenty of space for all.

Sounds like you need more space for the little ones, hiding places etc..