tossin' em all together soon .... any tips?

[my first peepers]

I have been putting the little ones near the big ones during the day but they have to go to a different spot at night. When they are all out in the yard the little ones are not very adventurous and the big ones like to range around so they don't interact very much! The funny thing is that when I let them all out the big ones like to go in the small pen and drink out of the tiny waterer and eat all the little one's food! SIlly chickens!
I am getting tired of all of the back and forth with the little ones to their night time home and wish they would just make friends already!

 

[mistylady]

Thank you everyone!
They can all see each other now but when they come out to roam the basement (shhhhhh ..... don't tell my hubby) they go over to the other cages and fight. One of the hens just got the feathers picked out of her back by her cagemate. Its bloody and gross. I don't know what happened but the one was ttacking the other when I went down there. I put some neosporin on her back and took her out of the cage. She's my favorite too.

The coop inside is 8 x 10 so I hope that will give them some room to run from the meaner ones and outside is a big run. I'll see if I can get a pic to work. Don;t laugh at the mess please! Back in a minute.

 

[mistylady]

 

[Wynette]

Any time I've combined chickens, I've done it very gradually, by putting a smaller cage inside the larger run, with the new ones in the smaller cage. I put food/water in the smaller cage, and the new ones inside for a full day, typically Saturday (as I work full time), then the morning of Sunday, then, by afternoon, they have all had a chance to see the new ones, and there's typically not much fighting amongst them when I turn them all out together.

Putting them together at night sometimes works...but sometimes, it doens't...and I figure, why take the chance?

 

[Wynette]

Wow! That's a nice barn/coop and a nice run. Just wanted to mention...did you bury your fencing? Looks like there's a large gap under your access door to the run. With the area being so close to the forest (which is beautiful, I might add), you'll have lots of predators that could get to your chickens. Just wanted to mention it!

 

[Opa]

I just place two maran hens from my quarantine pen in with the rest of my hens. After a few minutes of chasing and pecking everyone settled down. My smallest birds are two 20 weeks old ameraucana standard/bantam crosses. Even they joined in the harassing of the new hens. However, the new hens are easily the biggest birds in the pen and the melee soon settled down. I would however be very reluctant to introduce smaller birds in to the flock. I have some 12 wk old buff orpingtons and I don't plan to introduce them for at least another month.

 

[cluckychick]

I have 3 chicks in the Coop in a smaller pen. They can see eachother w/o getting to them. The momma hen who hatch them is the meanest one toward them. They've been in the coop for a week and this weekend I will go out after dark and open the pen and see how everything goes. Hopefully they will just fall right in.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

With hens, I just add new girls into the pen at night and haven't had any problems in the morning. That's not to say it couldn't, and I'm NOT saying that everyone should do it this way. But with my flocks, I haven't had any problems with any new hens getting hurt or bloodied. Just some average pecking-order pecking.

I now have 60 hens, kept in 2 adjoining pens with 3 roos watching over each. Occasionally I'll buy a few new pullet chicks or hatch some out at home. When these new girls are old enough to begin laying, I put them in one of the two big pens. I have an assortment of standard breed layers, purebred & mixed, and they all seem to get along.

If you're really concerned, try getting your birds together in the yard for a "meet-and-greet-and-eat-treats", toss out some cracked corn or something & let them all enjoy it together. You should see there if anyone has trouble-making tendencies.

 

[grinz]

I had several young chicks that needed to be put in with my older hen. I seperated them with a fence for a week or so until thay got somewhat acclimated. I then put them together and let nature take its course. They literally have to establish a pecking order to co-habitate. My hen stopped laying for several weeks. She took over most of the roost for several days before allowing them to establish their own space. There were no major fights, but there were some minor scirmiches. After about 3 weeks, life was back to normal. My hen started laying again and the newer pullets were well indoctrinated into the yard, coop etc. Some things just have to run their course.