Tips for our first hatch

[alaskanchickens]

I know this is probably meant for another thread but you have done such a great job answering my questions so far! When it comes to introducing incubator chicks to the flock, which in my case would be around 4-5 weeks because of temps, they would need to be separated right? By chicken wire just until they get used to each other? If so, for about how long would you recommend? Others say at that age they're big enough to plop into the coop and let them learn their place in the pecking order, but again, I'm worried about the little ones getting hurt or killed. Our rooster is not one to worry about, the most docile guy you could imagine! He is my 4 year old daughters "baby" and she carries him around like one or he follows her like a puppy! If she sits on the ground, he's right next to or in her lap. There are a couple hens that will peck us any time our hands are close but the rest just turn away and we scoop them right up.

 

[HEChicken]

I can only speak to how I do things, which is probably different than many on here. I don't have a pen for my chickens per se. I have a coop that sits in the middle of what I call a chicken "yard" because it is almost an acre in size. The fences are 5' high welded wire - definitely not predator proof but we nicknamed the coop "Coop Knox" and have followed the theory that since most predators hunt at night, if they are securely locked up at night, our losses will be minimal. A fox did prove us wrong within 3 weeks of moving our birds to this set up but since then (full story in the link in my signature), we've lost none to predators, in the last year and a half. Our poultry safe dogs sleep in the yard at night to further deter would-be predators from entering.

So….given that explanation….here is how I handle introductions. I have several small temporary pens that serve as broody pens, or for hens raising chicks for those first few days mentioned above. I can also put breeding pairs or trios into them if I want to collect pure bred eggs to incubate. So - when I have incubator chicks, after their time in the brooder, the next step is for them to move to one of these small pens within the yard. Weather is a huge factor so how long they are there really depends, but after they have adapted to living outside in the small pen, I start opening the door of it during the day, to let them out into the yard. For awhile they will continue to return to the small pen at night to sleep, since they know it as "home" but at some point they will start to follow the older birds into the main coop at night, and at that point the transition is complete.

I have found space to be your friend when it comes to integration. I.e., if space in the coop/run is limited, the existing birds will guard it fiercely against newcomers, but if they have tons of space, they don't seem to mind new birds too much. Most of my new birds are juveniles that I've raised and from quite a young age they interact freely with the existing flock, completely harmoniously. My only experience adding older birds was last fall when an acquaintance going through a personal crisis, begged me to take her 7 hens in, since she could no longer care for them. Although 7 was a lot for one of my little pens, I started them in there, but after a few days, used the same process detailed above for chicks. Within a short time of their arrival, they were sleeping in the main coop at night and had carved out a place for themselves in the pecking order as well.