Putting older birds into young flock?

[pmoore]

My sister in law is rehoming several of her laying chickens and I'd love to help her out and add to my pullet/rooster ratio but my flock is much younger and not laying or ready to be processed yet. This Wednesday they will be 10 weeks old- I currently have 13-15 cockerels and 5-7 pullets. I plan on processing most of the cockerels, leaving maybe one or two for (hopeful) breeding purposes. Should I be worried about introducing the older birds to my younger flock? What are some things I should look out for it any precautions I should take?

 

[Mrs. K]

Space is the key issue that also has hideout, multiple feed stations and feed stations set up so that while eating at one station, out of sight of another.

I would pull those cockerels out of there, way too many, will shortly make pulleys life hard. If you have small children I would process all of them this year, roosters are easy to come by, and get one next year.

I would advise adding less old birds than pullers you have. The older birds will quickly be on top of the pecking order, and because your chicks were not with older birds they have some manners to learn. However, strange coop, and being out numbered, will help if you have enough room. Don’t guess measure.

At this point, you will create two sub flocks, the pullets won’t make it a single flock till they begin to lay.

Probably will be a bit of commotion for a couple of days, but if you have the space, it will probably work.

 

[pmoore]

Space is the key issue that also has hideout, multiple feed stations and feed stations set up so that while eating at one station, out of sight of another.

I would pull those cockerels out of there, way too many, will shortly make pulleys life hard. If you have small children I would process all of them this year, roosters are easy to come by, and get one next year.

I would advise adding less old birds than pullers you have. The older birds will quickly be on top of the pecking order, and because your chicks were not with older birds they have some manners to learn. However, strange coop, and being out numbered, will help if you have enough room. Don’t guess measure.

At this point, you will create two sub flocks, the pullets won’t make it a single flock till they begin to lay.

Probably will be a bit of commotion for a couple of days, but if you have the space, it will probably work.

The cockerels will all be processed within the next two months with the exception of one or two, and space isn't an issue. The coop is large and there are many different roosts and nesting boxes, there are feeders and water available both inside the coop and outside the coop.
Hoping the transition goes rather smoothly, they are coming from rather "crammed" quarters and they'll actually have space to spread their wings here!

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I actually think this is the ideal integration scenario, unless the older birds really outnumber the younger ones. The cockerels at that age won’t be too randy yet and will probably gladly accept domination by the older hens. The home territory advantage will go to the younger, more vulnerable birds but the older ones will have the confidence that comes with age on their side. I did this this past fall. I added six laying pullets of 8-9 months to a coop that already housed a dozen chicks off heat and outdoors, in the 6-10 week range. I literally just put them all together. There were just too many babies to focus on for each hen and the chicks already knew their surroundings and where to run to and the older pullets didn’t. It worked very well. Quarantine still being recommended, I think it would work fine.

 

[aart]

Split off part of your coop and run and segregate the males.
Split off another part to start the integration process with the new birds(how old are they?) I'm going to assume they are mature and laying.
Even tho the chicks have home field advantage and will outnumber the hens,
maturity of the hens may trump and thump the chicks so that the chicks are more like 'new birds' in being lower on the pecking order.

Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.