Question on integrating in very small and young flock

[MamaDoolittle]

Hopefully someone can help me. We had 3 chicks and unfortunately one died last week. We are getting 2 babies to round out our small flock. I'm just wondering when the new chicks can mix with my slightly older girls? I'm guestimating that the 2 older girls will be about 12 weeks when the 2 new ones will be ready to move into the coop.

Also, we only have one coop and run. I did keep the first girls, Agnes, Evelyn, & Betty (RIP) locked in the coop for a week or more when the first left the brooder. They now love going out to their run in the morning. They are even beginning to put themselves to bed at night (yeah!). When the new girls join them, do they need to be shut in the coop? Or will they just follow the lead of the older girls?

Thanks from a newbie Mom.

 

[aart]

Is your coop big enough to put up a temporary wall/area to separate the littles from the biggers?
Or add a wire dog crate right in the coop?

You can put a small opening to area or crate that the littles can get thru but the biggers can't.
They really need to spend time side by side but separated by wire for a several weeks or more before letting them have physical contact.

I changed the wire on front after this pic was taken, removed the crate door,
lowered the wire down and just bent up a corner of it for the chicks to get in and out.
By the time the chicks were too big for the crate, they were integrated with the older chicks.



The coop are shown is 4x6', partitioned off of a 6x16' coop.


Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

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. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


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 blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, 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 and/or up and away from any bully birds.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock