Topic of the Week - Integrating Chicks into an Adult Flock

[PoppasGrill]

Awesome info!! I’m learning as I go as my first foray into backyard chickens ended with my neighbors calling the city and me having to give all my chickens to a neighbor that had a family ranch. Now I’m in a more rural area where that won’t happen, so I’ve started again. Anyway! I got four pullets from Tractor Supply last summer, and had to wait til they were as big as the smallest member of my current flock (not too bad as she is a bantam silky). This year, my broody hen (bantam silky) hatched four eggs and all four chicks hatched w/o issues. I’ve been keeping them separate until the last week, but now I know moving forward that, so long as they were hatched by a broody hen, and not in an incubator, they can be introduced much, much earlier. Yay for knowledge!!! God bless this community. I’ve learned so much so quick and I’m all for it, haha!

Those are some pretty birds

 

[BDutch]

Oh wait sorry, we actually have 3 leghorns now, one got taken by a bobcat yesterday,

Oohh. Sorry for your loss.
Your setup looks fine. I wonder what character leghorns have. I have no idea.
But probably they just need more time to accept. 3 waterers and 3 feeding stations may make integration a bit easier.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

Oohh. Sorry for your loss.
Your setup looks fine. I wonder what character leghorns have. I have no idea.
But probably they just need more time to accept. 3 waterers and 3 feeding stations may make integration a bit easier.

Thanks

 

[Nym]

<<<< When Black Betty - my Pekin frizzle bantam raised two pure Pekin daughters, I hardly saw more than a peak of the two chicks for almost a week! A year later Betty and daughter Suzie co-raised two silkie chicks, one a cockerel. Betty and Suzie had the two silkie chicks out of the coop and foraging for worms the day after hatching. The cockerel chick was a bold boy from day one. When I rehomed the silkies Suzie called and looked for them for months

Last September I bought four five-week-old chicks. After about a week I started letting them out to free range; they never went far from their coop and the bantams never bothered them.

Of the four two became cockerels and were returned to the breeder by December. The two remaining Araucana girls were kept in the seperate coop at nite but allowed to free range throughout the day as they had been doing. Both groups stuck to their own territory until bread and other food was being handed out. I kept it widely scattered to avoid trouble. There was a bit of pecking here and there, but no blood or injuries. I've seen the odd tuft of lavender feathers on the yard but haven't seen the culprit in action. It wasn't until around March this year that they were all seen hanging out dustbathing together. Suzie's sister Joannie is best mates with one of the Araucana girls and will even follow her to the nest when she lays. Suzie is now the flock's watcher, always a few meters behind the others and always last to the coop. This was my first time intergrating chickens and I think it went pretty well

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since it's a topic of the week I'll pipe in here. More details on my early integration approach in the article here and 2024's integration thread here.

How old should chicks be when they are integrated into an adult flock?

I believe in early integration, so "as early as possible." I aim for partial integration (chicks spend days with adults) at around 2 weeks old and full integration* (chicks spend all day and night with the adults) at around 1 month old.

*I call it full integration but note that the chicks won't become part of the flock and pecking order until they near point of lay. They don't really start mingling until then.

Are they too small to be integrated? Do they need to be a similar size to the older chickens?

Smaller is better - they're faster and more agile, able to utilize their small size to hide or pass through spots that adults can't fit (hence the chick-sized openings), and the adults don't view them as a threat as they would an older bird.

What is the best way to introduce chicks to the rest of the flock?

Brooding outdoors. If you brood chicks in view of the adults you can technically start letting them out with supervision once the adults lose interest in them and they're steady on their feet. For me that's usually around 10 days old.

By roughly 14 days old I teach them to utilize panic/chick openings to run to for safety when needed. When they show me they know how to use them, they're ready to have full run and coop access with the adults all day.

At around 1 month I close off the brooder and the chicks are integrated into the coop.

What / how do you feed a flock of mixed ages after integration

All birds eat whatever the youngest birds eat. Oyster shell or crushed egg shell in a container provides calcium for laying hens, and I keep both grower and layer sized grit available full time.

 

[PoppasGrill]

Since it's a topic of the week I'll pipe in here. More details on my early integration approach in the article here and 2024's integration thread here.

How old should chicks be when they are integrated into an adult flock?

I believe in early integration, so "as early as possible." I aim for partial integration (chicks spend days with adults) at around 2 weeks old and full integration* (chicks spend all day and night with the adults) at around 1 month old.

*I call it full integration but note that the chicks won't become part of the flock and pecking order until they near point of lay. They don't really start mingling until then.

Are they too small to be integrated? Do they need to be a similar size to the older chickens?

Smaller is better - they're faster and more agile, able to utilize their small size to hide or pass through spots that adults can't fit (hence the chick-sized openings), and the adults don't view them as a threat as they would an older bird.

What is the best way to introduce chicks to the rest of the flock?

Brooding outdoors. If you brood chicks in view of the adults you can technically start letting them out with supervision once the adults lose interest in them and they're steady on their feet. For me that's usually around 10 days old.

By roughly 14 days old I teach them to utilize panic/chick openings to run to for safety when needed. When they show me they know how to use them, they're ready to have full run and coop access with the adults all day.

At around 1 month I close off the brooder and the chicks are integrated into the coop.

What / how do you feed a flock of mixed ages after integration

All birds eat whatever the youngest birds eat. Oyster shell or crushed egg shell in a container provides calcium for laying hens, and I keep both grower and layer sized grit available full time.

Just seems small at that age, IMO, as even at 7 weeks or so, which is my preference on integrating, they get chased or bullied by many of the older hens. Maybe my hens are just mean until the twerps can fight back.
We’ve got 6 RI blues that are about 6 weeks and have been in look don’t touch for 3 weeks. We will start letting them out an hour at a time until ready to put them in the big girls coop.

 

[BDutch]

6 RI blues

6 Random Injured blues?

I always had broodies. Therefore there is no need to integrate chicks in my flock.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just seems small at that age, IMO, as even at 7 weeks or so, which is my preference on integrating, they get chased or bullied by many of the older hens.

They are small. That's the point, to take advantage of it by giving them hiding spots and escape routes that only they can access. They can huddle under the holes of a cinder block or shove themselves through a chain link fence for example at 2 weeks old - a perfect avenue of escape from a hen that's bothering them. At 7 weeks, no chance of that - then they just get pecked.

These little ones are 10 days old and on their first "outing" inside the run, note how easily they can fit under the split fence. The adults are on the other side.

About 2 weeks old here, and the chicken wire can be placed so it sits on top of the bricks - the chicks can fit under, the hen sure can't. (In the photo, the chicken wire is NOT on top of the bricks, the hen was chick friendly so there was no need for it. But it was set up as an option.)

 

[PoppasGrill]

It’s a mix called Rhode Island Blue

6 Random Injured blues?

I always had broodies. Therefore there is no need to integrate chicks in my flock.

can’t remember what it mixed

with.
This is them just under a week old.

 

[Nym]

It’s a mix called Rhode Island Blue

can’t remember what it mixed View attachment 3841760with.
This is them just under a week old.

They look like they'll be beautiful birds! I guessed it had to be a Australorp cross.

Rhode Island Blues were created by hybrid crossing the Rhode Island Red and the Australorp, both of which are notoriously fantastic egg layers. Breeders took one of the most popular American chickens, the Rhode Island Red, and crossbred it with one of the most popular Australian breeds, the Australorp. This was a naturally fantastic pairing.

Chicken Caretaker | Rhode Island Blue Chickens: 5 Things You Didn’t Know