Please help me figure out most ideal integration plan

[caliclucker]

I currently have 12 red production hens (3+ years) 3 BO Roos (about 5 months) and 20 chicks of varying breeds that range from about 3 weeks to 8 weeks of age. The hens and the Roos free range together on 1/2 acre and roost together in the coop at night. The chicks are in a grow out section of the run. (All the birds see each other daily through the wire). My plan is to cull a large proportion of the adult hens before integration, at least 3/4 of them. I have a few questions:

1. Will the coop be big enough to house all the birds at night (8x9) considering they have a half acre during the day?

2. Should I lock all the birds together in the run when I decide to integrate the chicks? The run is about 24' x 32'. I worry about the Roos with the new pullets more than the hens. The hens still "rule the roost" at this point (although one of the Roos manages to get a quickie in now and then but he is soon chased off and reprimanded). I think the hens will be fine with the pullets but worry about the Roos aggravating the heck out of them. I know older Roos don't normally harass underage pullets but I'm not sure about teenage Roos. Feedback?

3. How soon should I let the new pullets free range? I worry about them not going back to the coop at night. I didn't worry when I let the Roos free range for the first time because they were easy to round up since there were only 3 of them and they were constantly together. Not sure about rounding up 20 pullets every night. Advice?

4. Since the natural order of the original flock will be disrupted by culling will integration of the new birds be easier, since a new hierarchy will have to be established?

Thanks so much!

 

[Ridgerunner]

1. Will the coop be big enough to house all the birds at night (8x9) considering they have a half acre during the day?

It depends on how you manage them, their personality, and your climate, among other things. I hate to give hard and fast numbers because you are dealing with living animals and each animal is different. Your risks if you leave them locked into a crowded place range from possible cannibalism to feather-picking to no problems. Yours might be OK locked into a coop that size, they might not. I’d think if you let then out at a reasonable time after they wake up that you will be OK. You might be OK if you leave them locked in there for a few hours in the morning, but your risks go up. If you have a climate where they cannot go outside for days during bad weather, you might or might not see problems.

2. Should I lock all the birds together in the run when I decide to integrate the chicks? The run is about 24' x 32'. I worry about the Roos with the new pullets more than the hens. The hens still "rule the roost" at this point (although one of the Roos manages to get a quickie in now and then but he is soon chased off and reprimanded). I think the hens will be fine with the pullets but worry about the Roos aggravating the heck out of them. I know older Roos don't normally harass underage pullets but I'm not sure about teenage Roos. Feedback?

During integration, you have two things to worry about. First is pure integration. Some chickens (certainly not all) can be territorial and may attack any new chickens in their territory. By housing them side by side for a while, they accept each other’s right to exist so you are probably OK in that aspect.

The other is the pecking order. Mature birds will outrank immature birds. If a lower ranked chicken invades the personal space of a higher ranked chicken, the higher ranked is within its rights to peck the inferior. If the inferior runs away, all is normally right in the chicken world. You can get hens that are brutes and bullies so sometimes they chase to try to do harm, but normally if one runs away it works out. If they don’t run away, it is considered a challenge and can get real ugly. Younger chickens quickly learn to stay away from the older hens as much as they can. Don’t lock them in places they can’t run away. Give them as much space as possible. I would not confine them to the run but I’d make every inch of space available that I could.

Pullets have been raised with the flock (and that includes roosters of all ages) for thousands of years. Chickens are not humans. Don’t put human morality on chickens. Will the young roosters harass the pullets? Maybe, maybe not. If they do, will that cause any harm? You are dealing with living animals so you can’t say anything for certain, but in my experience, practically never. Let them be chickens.

3. How soon should I let the new pullets free range? I worry about them not going back to the coop at night. I didn't worry when I let the Roos free range for the first time because they were easy to round up since there were only 3 of them and they were constantly together. Not sure about rounding up 20 pullets every night. Advice?

When it gets close to dark, get a bowl of vanilla ice cream and chop up your favorite fruit. The go outside and eat that as you watch them go back to the coop at bedtime. They may not necessarily go inside the coop at first, though most of the time they do, but the worst thing they will do is huddle at the coop as if they can’t figure out how to get inside. We don’t call them birdbrains for nothing. They are real easy to pick up and put in the coop if you wait until it is kind of dark. They should catch on pretty quickly.

I have had chicks go in and out of gates several times during the day but when it comes to bedtime, they forget the concept of gate. They desperately want to get to the coop, but they are stuck on the wrong side of a fence, although an open gate is just a few feet away. But the point is, they want to get to the coop.

4. Since the natural order of the original flock will be disrupted by culling will integration of the new birds be easier, since a new hierarchy will have to be established?

Good question and I don’t have a great answer. It is quite possible they will be too distracted by settling a new pecking order, but I really don’t know.

 

[caliclucker]

Ridgerunner, thank you for your answers. I feel better because i definitely like to take the hands off approach as much as possible. So the less interference I have to do the happier I am. And I like the ice cream idea

That being said, I would like clarification on one thing. Since mixing the flock in the run isn't the best idea are you saying I should just let the pullets out on the entire half acre the first time they're out? I guess there isn't any other option. They will have matured out in the run in a cordoned off section I made for them. They have never been in the actual coop. So as long as they come back to the general vicinity at night should I at that time just start sticking them in the coop?

 

[caliclucker]

Anymore wisdom from anyone???