Rough time integrating my new girls

[valkgal]

I have 2 sets of hens. The oldest (the "ladies") are 8 months old and my babies are 16 weeks old. Since the babies were 10 weeks, I would let them hang out in the outdoor pen while the ladies were ranging. The ladies would sometimes investigate, which would send the babies running to the center of the pen, scared. At 11 weeks, I started letting the babies hang out inside the joint pen, in their cage. The ladies were curious, sometimes sticking their heads in the cage, often roosting on top.

Since 12 weeks, the babies have been allowed to hang with the bigs. It has been an absolute disaster. Two weeks ago I let them stay in the coop. The bigs chase the babies around, they don't let the babies in the coop (I have to hand deliver them inside when the bigs are asleep...that's tough, people! I've tried separating them...I don't know what to do!

Where did I mess up, and how can I fix it? My babies are so skittish now!

By the way, the ladies are barre rocks. The babies are 1 australorp, 1 RIR an 1 barre rock. Sometimes the barre rock can hang with the ladies without getting picked on.

 

[aart]

How big are your coop and your run (feet by feet)?
How many older birds are there?
What is 'the joint pen'?
Pics of coop and run(s) would help.

Space is very important so the lower birds can get away from the dominant birds.
Places to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away helps a lot.
Multiple feed/water stations are a must.

There will always be pecking and chasing, it's just the way they roll.
As long as there is no bloodshed and no bird is getting pinned down/trapped and beaten, let them figure it out.



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

 

[azygous]

You are where I was around seven years ago when I was trying to merge four eight-week old Wyandottes with three older Brahmas. Since then, I've learned a few things about how chicks develop self confidence. This is your main problem - lack of self confidence in the three youngsters.

Where you went wrong was by not keeping the babies safe from the older girls until they developed enough self confidence to handle the bigs. In addition to that, the chicks are less in number than is ideal for developing self confidence. The larger the unit, the more chicks are able to handle the pecking order among the adult flock. Four is the minimum for this, I've discovered.

When you are raising chicks, it's a good idea to expose them to the adults as early as possible, but they need to be kept separate and safe until they learn how to deal with the pecking order.

I raise my chicks in a separate "grow-out" pen along side he adults. They are accepted into the flock early on by virtue of being in close proximity.The adults never look on them as being strangers or intruders. At three weeks of age, I open little pop holes in their pen so they can begin to explore the rest of the run. They learn to find safety back in their pen, and the entrances are too small for the adults to follow them.

They develop self confidence by gradually learning how to keep themselves safe, and learning the pecking order with this safe refuge to retreat to also builds self confidence.

By age five weeks, my recent batch of chicks had been fully accepted and integrated into the flock. The chicks learned where their place was in the pecking order, and that also kept them safe because they knew their boundaries.

So now your job is to teach your youngsters self confidence. I would start all over by keeping them in a separate pen along side the main run or partition off a small area temporarily. Wait a week and then let them back with the adults. But meanwhile, re-decorate the run and coop. Rearrange as much as you can to make it appear different. Add items such as tree stumps, new perches, and old furniture. Break up the pen by placing large objects out in the middle.

You want as many things as possible for the youngsters to leap up onto or run behind in order to escape pursuit.

One question: how many adults do you have? If they outnumber the chicks, you will continue to have problems. You may need to isolate all but one of the adults as you begin to gradually reintegrate the chicks, slowly adding back one adult at a time until the chicks appear to be handling themselves well with the adults.