Thinking About Getting More Chicks In Spring: How Do I Integrate Into Existing Flock?

[Windy Wings]

Hi! We were thinking of getting some more chicks come springtime. When they get old enough to go into the coup with our other girls, how exactly do you move them in with the flock? I heard that you can't just move them in because the existing flock might bully them (and I have enough problems with bullied chickens already... ).
How old do they need to be before we move them in? Fully grown, or old enough that they don't need the light anymore?

 

[nuthatched]

because the existing flock might bully them

They'll more likely kill them.

If you have enough room, brood them in the coop. I have a big wooden box that the front is hardware cloth, I use a heating pad cave brooder so they can go in an out as they need.
They grow up everyone seeing everyone else so by the time they're too big for the brooder, integrateion drama is minimal.

 

[Windy Wings]

That's a good idea! We might do that! Thanks!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Really depends on your set up and what changes/alterations you can do to make things work, but like nuthatched I brood outdoors (though mine are outside of the coop) and integrate early: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

 

[Sefirothe]

I brood on the floor of the coop too. Once the littles are a couple weeks old, I open a small door in the brooder that only the littles can get in and out of.

This still has its risks tho, we lost one chick from the most recent batch who got trapped out in the run and somehow cornered by the big chickens. I never would have guessed it would have happened to that particular chick since she was the fastest and most skittish of the batch. Not sure if she got sick or hurt which kept her from getting away from the older chickens.

Other than that incident the integration went very smoothly. The teenagers are all currently doing well hanging out with the big girls and sleeping on the roost bars.

 

[kattabelly]

(and I have enough problems with bullied chickens already... ).

This doesn't really sound like an ideal situation to be adding chicks to.

What have you tried so far to stop/reduce the bullying? Do you think boredom or lack of space could be contributing to it? Adding more birds would likely only make things worse if so.

 

[Windy Wings]

This doesn't really sound like an ideal situation to be adding chicks to.

What have you tried so far to stop/reduce the bullying? Do you think boredom or lack of space could be contributing to it? Adding more birds would likely only make things worse if so.

We've been working on it, and it has been getting much better. One of our chickens got sick and that really started the pecking problem. I have a couple bullies who are the main source of the problem. If we got some more egg layers, then we could get rid of the bully chickens. Spraying no peck on them and that really helps, along with letting them free range. They have an enormous coop and run (my dad built it, and we all told him it looked like a shed...) so space is not a problem. We've been adding more and more things in the coop to entertain them.