**PLEASE give your advice & experiences on new chicken integrations!**

[wings]

So, here's the deal:

I have 7 little pullets. We got them as chicks in late May. Currently, they are residing in the big chicken coop (that really isn't that big

). That coop is about 5 ft. x 8 ft. A yard is being built for them, but right now they get about 2 hours of ranging in the morning.

I also have 4 big hens. They are almost exactly a year old. They are residing in a coop that we constructed last minute. It has lots of stations, basically. There is a circular roosting station that is about 3 feet in diameter. There is also a food and water station that is about 3 ft. x 2 ft. There is a nesting box and resting area that is about 4 ft. x 4 ft. Lastly, there is a hoop run that is about 5 ft. x 6 ft. They spend most of their time outside in the hoop run.

So, eventually we will have 11 hens in the 5 x 8 coop. That is obviously not enough space. We need to build another yard. So here's my first question:

How big does the new yard need to be in order to house 11 chickens?

Here's my next question:

How soon can I put the 4 big hens in the big coop with the 7 little pullets? Do I have to build a new yard first, or will a 5 x 8 coop with a temporary 5 x 6 hoop run do?

Once I've decided when I'm putting the hens with the pullets, HOW DO I INTRODUCE THEM? Do I have to clean the coop again?



I'm sorry if that's a lot of information for everyone. If you have ANY information that might help, I would greatly appreciate you helping me out! I'm SWAMPED!!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey!

can they see each other right now? separated by a fence? generally i think once they get 'about the same size' you can mix 'em all together.

i have some May babies that were cooped next to the big hens, were in a smaller yard next to them.. and in the last couple days i've let them mix it up together. the little ones stick to their old yard mostly.. and stay out of the way of the layers who, for the most part, dont have any hoots or the little ones. they do not roost together. this allows me to let the littles out for a while, feed them, then unleash the rest of the chicken menace.

i think if they have enough room to get away and/or hide they should be ok. you can also build a 'creep feeder' type thing that has doors small enough for the little ones that they can hide from the big ones.

not sure on the yard size - might be small but if thats all you have to work with then you probably need to keep the separated until the little ones are a bit bigger...

anybody else??

 

[wings]

I was worried about the social part of it. I was going to wait until they were the same size, which I guessed would come in September or so.

UNTIL my friend told me that she moved her 3 babies (the same age) in with her 18 FULL GROWN HENS!!!
She said it worked out fine, so I thought I would be fine too!

 

[cposz]

we have two 1-year old hens and two 13-week old chicks, and we've been integrating slowly since spring. During the day. we put our chicks in separate but adjoining run from the hens for a few weeks, a few hours a day - so they could see each other. Then for a couple of weeks we put them together in a large run for a little bit each evening. We're now leaving them together in the same larger run for most of the day - while we are at home (we don't leave them together when we aren't there). This is going better each time.
Soon we hope to put the littles in with the hens for an overnight, to see how they do in the coop.
We are hoping to get all of them living harmoniously together in the same coop and run by the end of the summer.

It will be easier when they are all eating the same food.

 

[wings]

Quote:
I would like to do that, but my friend says that it's not necessary, and she had a successful integration without doing that at all.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Here's a Learning Center page on this subject:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock

 

[cposz]

Well, the first time we put them together, one of the hens (particularly) was very mean to the chicks. And our being right there didn't seem to stop her from going after them! I think it might have been very bad if we weren't right there to separate them - many times!

But it has gotten better. She still goes after them, but they are both afraid of her so they stay as far away from her as they can. Now she just seems to want to give them a scare - the first few times it looked like she intended to hurt them. I don' think she would have stopped biting and pecking them if we hadn't removed her.

 

[Quack Shack]

Agreed on the adjacent run so they can be seen by the older flock but not harmed. Sad to say it only takes one incident for you to lose your chicks so I'm throwing in with the others that allow for a slow integration over a period of weeks with supervised roaming with the older flock. Birds like many other animals have a pecking order and newbies, babies and too old to fend for themselves always will be the bottom of the rung. Just how it is but you are the flockmaster so let the top hens/roos know that you'd like them all to play nice. Good luck!