Successful integration

[columbiacritter]

I am confident now that my new pullet is successfully integrated ito my flock of layers. I put her in a seperate enclousre inside their run for 2 wks so she was "with" them but apart so they couldn't get at her. When snack time came snack were always distributed along the divider so they were eating with her just inches apart.

after 2 wks I started putting her in with the rest of the birds for the last hour or so of their day before roosting. there was squabbling and she was firmly put in her place by several hens, but I was around to keep them from cornering her. After a week of nightly meetings I left them together all day, just keeping her in when I let the older birds out to free range in the evenings.

That weekend I let her out with them to free range all day. At first she stayed within a few yards of the coop frequently running back into the run. I was fine with that. It took about 4 days for her to really start venturing out. Now she's allllllll over the place checking out every crack and crevice, tasting everything, finding all the good dust bathing spots.

She doesn't spend a lot of time with the older hens, mainly I think becuase she's still in the zippy teenage stage and they are fat old ladies more interested in food and naps.

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

WAY TO GO!!!

we do it almost the same way.....but have now started doing it with younger ones too. So now we have 6 different sizes (ages) all free ranging together it all is a lot smoother then I thought it would be. We even have a mom with he 3 little ones out there all day and they sleep in the coop at night (mom is part of the original flock).

 

[jmwal326]

I two did this with my 2 groups My Teenages are roaming all over the place the two groups have not come together yet but they have not attacked the teenagers. It is great to watch the two flocks mingle amongst themselves.