pecking order question

[jess19864]

Okay i have 12 chickens, ones roo ones a mom and the rest are hens of various breeds. Most aggressive to least aggressive id say would be the black stars,RIR, easter egger rooster(usually just at bedtime) and the easter egger hens and olive eggers are pretty docile. The mom has 6 babies currently and shes a pretty protective mama. When she first had the chicks i kept them completely separated from the rest of the flock until it was bedtime. The extent of their interaction was through a fence that they could all see eachother and at night time i put them all in the coop together so everyone stays safe. Ive been monitoring the chickens and introducing the babies and mom to the rest of the flock slowly like sometimes ill sit up there for an hour or 2 and leave them all together to see what happens in case i need to run interference. The babies used to get an occasional peck here and there if they were eating something the other chickens wanted but then mama would tear after them and they would back off. I guess my question is since im still keeping them seperated(so babies arent out where a cat or something could get them) are they more or less part of the flock or am i going to have to do something else when they get older? usually when i buy new hens i introduce them as adults so i have never gone this route before . Also this brings my flock up to 18 birds and i think one is definitely a roo as do a few on here who have commented on pics. Is

 

[jess19864]

16 hens enough for 2 roos or do i need a few more to keep balance?

 

[aart]

How old are the broody chicks?
Best to get them integrated into the flock 24/7 starting about week after hatch.

There are no guaranteed hard numbers for male to female ratio.
Multiple males can frequently be a problem.
I prefer to keep only one male.

 

[jess19864]

How old are the broody chicks?
Best to get them integrated into the flock 24/7 starting about week after hatch.

There are no guaranteed hard numbers for male to female ratio.
Multiple males can frequently be a problem.
I prefer to keep only one male.

i havent been leaving them together 24/7 because my coops set up into 2 different runs. There is an outside run that has a roof and is connected to the coop and an outside run thats connected to the side or of the coop and a door i lift to let then out. I had a problem and lost a couple chicks im guessing to a cat or something so i dont consider the secondary run to be safe for them. The one thats connected to the part where they roost at night is dog kennel fence with chicken wire over everything.

 

[jess19864]

i havent been leaving them together 24/7 because my coops set up into 2 different runs. There is an outside run that has a roof and is connected to the coop and an outside run thats connected to the side or of the coop and a door i lift to let then out. I had a problem and lost a couple chicks im guessing to a cat or something so i dont consider the secondary run to be safe for them. The one thats connected to the part where they roost at night is dog kennel fence with chicken wire over everything.

id leave the door open for them to mingle but they would end up in the part of the coop that the feral cats seem to hang out around because its close to the barn and they sleep in the barn .

 

[Ridgerunner]

You have two different issues and they run counter to each other. If you let the broody and her chicks mingle with the rest of the flock the broody hen usually integrates the chicks for you. There are always exceptions to anything to do with chickens and their behavior. The personality of the individual chickens and how much room you have are important factors. But it sounds like that broody has the right attitude to manage.

When she weans them and leaves them totally on their own to make their way with the flock the chicks will still have to manage pecking order issues by themselves. Again individual personalities and how much room you have are important. I've had a couple of broody hens wean their chicks at 3 weeks and those chicks did fine by themselves. Mama had spent three weeks teaching the others to not bother her chicks and the chicks had enough room, day and at night, to avoid the adults. Not everybody has that kind of room. I let my broody and chicks roam with the flock as soon as they hatch but my set-up is different from others, like Aart. We all have to find out own way.

Your other issue is predators. How sure are you that you know what is getting those chicks? Have you seen any carcasses? What kind of signs or clues do you have as to what it is? It could be cats, snakes, or something else. The only way to stop something like that is barriers that keep the predator out, at least until the chicks are large enough to not be prey for that specific predator.

Until you have some confidence they are not at risk in that other run I don't have a good solution for you. As far as the hen integrating them for you I believe it is best to start that process as early as you can, you never know when she will wean them. Could be 3 weeks, could be more than 10 weeks. But if you can't safely let them in that other run you will probably have to integrate them yourself later. With them being raised across wire from the rest of the flock that process should be a lot easier than it normally would be otherwise but it's still an integration. It might go really smoothly, it might not.

 

[jess19864]

i just used an app to make a quick drawing lol basically this is what i have. the coop has a door on the front and a roof that extends over the run in the front. That run imade with that real thick dog kennel stuff. There is a small door i can lift on the side that lets them go into the other area so one side of the first run is one of the sides for the second run. The second run is made from fencing and poles but has no roof. Just like 8 foot high fence. Im assuming its a cat because as i said we have cats that are feral. They were dropped off or have been wandering around the neighborhood. No bodies to speak of but the chicks were small wouldnt take much. Since i put chicken wire in all the gaps and they cant get outive had no more losses. I also keep traps at the coop and catch and release racoons and opossums when

 

[jess19864]

i do occasionally leave them together like when we had that flood rain i didnt let anyone into the other run or when i go up to camp i leave them all multiple waterers and food just so they have no chance of being someones dinner . I just dont feel at 6 weeks maybe 7 they are big enough to fend off a cat they are surprisingly small. I figured with the breeds i have they would be bigger by now but they arent and mom still likes to sit on them at night even though they can reach the roost