puting young pullets in with older birds

[kens147]

i have 8 hens and 1 rooster that a less than a year old the hens are laying. i have 15 pullets that are 12weeks old. when the best time to put them together

 

[Matoe]

Same thing I put my 34 /8 week olds in with my year olds durning the day so they did not know what coop to go to but after 2 nights of scoping them up and putting them in the coop On day 3 they were all going into there new big coop. not to much fighting going on at all

 

[NellaBean]

How big of a space are they going into? I just put 20 approximately 8-10 week olds (mostly pullets, a few cockerels) in with my big flock....big flock consists of approximately 20-30 chickens/roosters.....had no major problems, but they spend all day in a half acre yard so plenty of space to get away from each other, and had spent two weeks "seeing each other" through the fence.

If you have a big enough space, I would go ahead and mix them. You have more "kids" than "adults" so the picking and pecking will be well spread out.

 

[drunkdog]

so if one of your hens broods the eggs till hatching do you then remove them to a brooder box then re engage them into the flock or simply let them stay in the flock from day one?

 

[kens147]

i have a lot of room right now i have fence up letting them see each other

 

[hearthnsoul]

ours are a couple of weeks old,..I lose track, maybe 5 or 6 weeks. Anyhow Mom decided yesterday she has no use for them, she went back with the other chickens. So they spent the night in the brooder. Today my husband built a lower perch for them in with the hens and I went and checked on them a half an hour ago,..3 were on the lower perch hubby built , 1 was on the low hen jump up and one more a perch higher and the last was up there sitting with my crazy red hens. I will go out early in the morning the keep bored hens from messing with them, but I felt like if the mom left them best time to move them on from the brooder to the hen house was now. If all is well I will let you know,..but I am not too worried, my husband has really shown me how nuerotic I am, I worry about things that are a waste of time,..if things work great, if not go back a step. So tommorow we see if it works,..if not brooder back to the goat house.

 

[Mahonri]

My young ones have to be at least 16 weeks old before I introduce them to the big girls... and I usually wait until they are 20 weeks. I always put them in at night.

 

[kens147]

thanks for the help