Question about adding pullets to existing coop.

[Sinadrea]

Hello Neighbor!

Hello

 

[Granny23]

You know, another thing that I might try, is flipping the two groups. Put the old girls where you have the littles, and the littles where you have the old girls. I have had very good luck with this. It gives the young birds some chance to explore the area, get some territorial rights so to speak, kind of discombobulates the whole deal.

But it is just at roosting time, I would put up the sight barriers on the roost. I would not have it go to the floor. And don't be surprised if they do not go to what you think is the right spot. What I think will happen, is the old girls will roost, and they young ones will try and roost by them - get pushed off, and then should find the safe roosts.

I would put up the divide - let the old girls roost, adjust the divide, and place the young girls on the roost if they didn't catch on. A lot of dinking around, but hey, chickens drive you crazy.

Mrs K

I had a problem with one hen being bugged by my other 3 hens when she was younger and it came time to roost. I hung a small hand towel up to separate the trouble makers. That helped immensely. Now there is no problem.

I have 4, 3.5 yr old hens. I have 4, 7 week old chicks. I have 8 ft x 4 ft coop where the older hens roost and they have access to the side of my house as well which is 20-30 ft long and 5.5 feet wide.
I attached a 13 ft by 9 ft wire enclosure attached to the smaller coop that everyone has access to.
Inside that I made another enclosure for the babies. They are almost 8 weeks and have been roosting outside in their pen for about 2 weeks now. They are completely covered & fenced in because they kept jumping/flying out of their pen, especially the 2 Anconas.
I let the adult hens out into my yard in the morning and have gradually been letting the babies out in the big enclosure when the hens aren't around and if I let them together I supervise. There are separate food and water access. The hens are still chasing the babies whenever they get a chance.
Am I doing the right thing in my introduction...a little at a time?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Ridgerunner do I understand you to be saying your older hens are sleeping on the floor? And the young ones are on the roosts? This surprises me, IME the littles huddle on the floor for a while but the older girls have always been on the roosts.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

@Ridgerunner do I understand you to be saying your older hens are sleeping on the floor? And the young ones are on the roosts? This surprises me, IME the littles huddle on the floor for a while but the older girls have always been on the roosts.

X2. My younger ones are always lower. I would another roost but im building a new coop. My youngest pullet took the roost due to my cockerel.

 

[Granny23]

I had a problem with one hen being bugged by my other 3 hens when she was younger and it came time to roost. I hung a small hand towel up to separate the trouble makers. That helped immensely. Now there is no problem.

I have 4, 3.5 yr old hens. I have 4, 7 week old chicks. I have 8 ft x 4 ft coop where the older hens roost and they have access to the side of my house as well which is 20-30 ft long and 5.5 feet wide.
I attached a 13 ft by 9 ft wire enclosure attached to the smaller coop that everyone has access to.
Inside that I made another enclosure for the babies. They are almost 8 weeks and have been roosting outside in their pen for about 2 weeks now. They are completely covered & fenced in because they kept jumping/flying out of their pen, especially the 2 Anconas.
I let the adult hens out into my yard in the morning and have gradually been letting the babies out in the big enclosure when the hens aren't around and if I let them together I supervise. There are separate food and water access. The hens are still chasing the babies whenever they get a chance.
Am I doing the right thing in my introduction...a little at a time?

 

[Granny23]

I had a problem with one hen being bugged by my other 3 hens when she was younger and it came time to roost. I hung a small hand towel up to separate the trouble makers. That helped immensely. Now there is no problem.

I have 4, 3.5 yr old hens. I have 4, 7 week old chicks. I have 8 ft x 4 ft coop where the older hens roost and they have access to the side of my house as well which is 20-30 ft long and 5.5 feet wide.
I attached a 13 ft by 9 ft wire enclosure attached to the smaller coop that everyone has access to.
Inside that I made another enclosure for the babies. They are almost 8 weeks and have been roosting outside in their pen for about 2 weeks now. They are completely covered & fenced in because they kept jumping/flying out of their pen, especially the 2 Anconas.
I let the adult hens out into my yard in the morning and have gradually been letting the babies out in the big enclosure when the hens aren't around and if I let them together I supervise. There are separate food and water access. The hens are still chasing the babies whenever they get a chance.
Am I doing the right thing in my introduction...a little at a time?

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Ridgerunner do I understand you to be saying your older hens are sleeping on the floor? And the young ones are on the roosts? This surprises me, IME the littles huddle on the floor for a while but the older girls have always been on the roosts.

No. The hens sleep where they want to sleep. That's the main roosts since that is the highest place available.

My chicks may sleep on the floor. They may sleep on something above the floor. To avoid them sleeping in my raised nests I installed a juvenile roost, lower than the main roosts, horizontally separated but a few feet from the main roosts, and higher than my nests. Once the chicks want to roost they typically go there.

Once I've reduced the numbers (by eating some of the cockerels) and they have proven to me that they can roam during the day with the adults I move them back into the main coop by tossing them in after dark. Then I'm down there at daybreak to see how it is going. Usually I find that the pullets are on the roosts avoiding the adults on the coop floor. After seeing this a couple of days I feel OK sleeping in. It is a pretty easy integration.

This may be where the confusion is coming from. After they wake up the hens go from the main roosts to the coop floor. The young ones fly up to the main roosts and stay there to avoid the adults until I open the pop door and let everyone out. My roosts are high enough that they are a safe place away from the hens on the floor. Not everyone has roosts that high.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I see, thank you.

 

[rosemarythyme]

if I let them together I supervise. There are separate food and water access. The hens are still chasing the babies whenever they get a chance.
Am I doing the right thing in my introduction...a little at a time?

Hard to tell if the photos show the entirety of run space, but is there extra clutter in the run to give the younger birds hiding spots to get away from the adults when everyone is in there together?

 

[Granny23]

Hard to tell if the photos show the entirety of run space, but is there extra clutter in the run to give the younger birds hiding spots to get away from the adults when everyone is in there together?

Yes. I usually supervise if I let the adults in with the babies. They are 8 weeks now.
They have the entire length of the side of my house, the 4 x 8 coop where the 4 hens roost and the 13 ft by 9 ft enclosure to run around in because they are all attached. I have not allowed the babies out of that enclosure and into my yard yet. The adults go out into the yard when the solar door on the coop opens. We've had some really hot weather. I'm definitely looking forward to some cooler days.