- May 10, 2010
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I have 6 hens that are now two years old and they were all raised together. We spent a lot of time with them and they are very sweet and friendly. In April I got two more babies (both female) who are a little over 5 months old, who are also very sweet. The babies have been outside next to the big girls for a couple of months. Their runs are separated by chicken wire and they each have separate ramps and coops to roost in at night. In the late afternoons I will open their run doors and let them all free range together (in a fenced in area where I am there to supervise) and there haven't been too many skirmishes. Last night I decided to open the door between their runs and let them intermingle. As they started to head inside for bed, I noticed the alpha hen Dora run up the ramp into the babies' coop. I went inside to observe and she jumped up on the roost beside the babies. She kept looking over at the rest of her buddies so I thought she would prefer to go over to them. So I picked her up and put her in her usual coop, and she promptly ran out the door, down the ramp, out into the run, up the babies' ramp and back up on the roost with them. The babies were a little unnerved but OK. I checked on them about an hour later. Dora and the babies were lined up next to each other, peacefully roosting. Hopefully this is the start of a successful integration!
