What age do you introduce your chicks to flock?

[SmallTimeChicks]

Hi there. I have 4 old pullets and a mean rooster. He’s not mean to the hens by any means; he does his job well. He simply hates humans. It's a small price to pay for the protection he provides my girls.

I’ve been raising 8 female chicks in the same coop, with the chicks separated in a rabbit hutch but still in full view of all the birds. No one seems to care about each other’s existence, but my 8-week chicks are outgrowing their rabbit hutch which could cause bigger problems.

I’d like to combine the two flocks full time, but I hear horror stories of roosters and their “rough mating ways“ harming chicks who are too young to mate. I’ve let them out a couple times while supervised and the old hens definitely don’t want to share food and immediately dictate the pecking order with a few hard blows to the little chicks.

What age is appropriate?

 

[Chickassan]

About 8 weeks, you've done exactly the right thing putting them in view of your existing flock so they aren't new to them.
Your hens are going to be sort of brutal until your new girls lay thats normal.
The rooster, now if he tries mating non laying babies he's never not going to do that and you'll either have to find a proper rooster or not introduce new birds until they are at the point of lay.
Keeping chicks seperated for that long is very hard and you are still in possession of a broken rooster, they are not supposed to do that a proper one wont.

 

[Tre3hugger]

I introduced my chicks at 5 weeks with a barrier. At six weeks they were fully integrated and by 7 weeks they had a spot on the roost. There are nine hens and a rooster, with 5 chicks(pullets) introduced. The rooster has not bothered them. I'd day go for it, just supervise at first.

 

[Alaskan]

I would eat or rehome the rooster... human agression is bad...

And then it will be easy for you to open up the chick pen, and sit in the coop for sn hour to see if everyone is happy together.

Also, there will be zero fear of the rooster being a problem with the chicks.

If you decide you want a male... find one with better manners.

 

[SmallTimeChicks]

He was re-homed to me and told he was friendly. He got worse with time. Lesson learned-no true need for a roo!

 

[SmallTimeChicks]

About 8 weeks, you've done exactly the right thing putting them in view of your existing flock so they aren't new to them.
Your hens are going to be sort of brutal until your new girls lay thats normal.
The rooster, now if he tries mating non laying babies he's never not going to do that and you'll either have to find a proper rooster or not introduce new birds until they are at the point of lay.
Keeping chicks seperated for that long is very hard and you are still in possession of a broken rooster, they are not supposed to do that a proper one wont.

About 8 weeks, you've done exactly the right thing putting them in view of your existing flock so they aren't new to them.
Your hens are going to be sort of brutal until your new girls lay thats normal.
The rooster, now if he tries mating non laying babies he's never not going to do that and you'll either have to find a proper rooster or not introduce new birds until they are at the point of lay.
Keeping chicks seperated for that long is very hard and you are still in possession of a broken rooster, they are not supposed to do that a proper one wont.

 

[SmallTimeChicks]

I find it interesting that the hens will be mean to the newcomers until the point of laying. Like, is this a “right of passage?” Something like, “Ah, you’re finally pulling your weight. You’re one of us now.”
My old hens are barely laying at 6-8 years of age. They have no room to be talking trash to the newcomers.

 

[Birdmom2020]

I've tried and tried these same steps with my little 13 week silkies and my 5 months old older hens. I've tried multiple times within the last month - month and a half. No luck. My girls are just way too brutal. I've had small areas for the silkies to escape to and my girls wait for them to pop back out and go right for their faces as soon as they do. They all have free ranged fine together quite a few times and no problems. As of now I have 1 coop and my older birds like going to my neighbors (who are the kind of people that have that I'm better attitude and are completely rude) so I have to keep them in a run and the silkies free range bc they stay close to home. The silkies were penned in a small pen right beside the older birds their whole lives until they got too big for my little brooder pen and when they free range they're always walking around the older birds run but they still get picked on horribly. Last time I tried to introduce I sat for 2 hrs with them and it was like my hens turned into psycho cannibals and they wanted to eat them! I do have 2 other little babies getting close to 1 month and my silkies are perfect with them with no pecking or anything so I'm thinking about just making a separate coop for the silkies and the 2 littles and leaving the older ones..

Sorry so long but any ideas on what to do?

 

[Birdmom2020]

And to the op. Hopefully you can get yours to integrate with no issues! I've never seen any posts on here where it didn't work out. Maybe my birds are just mean and don't like new comers. As for the roo, I would definitely re-home unless you make him a spot in the freezer. I've never had a mean roo but since I have small children who like to help I've sworn that if I ever cam across a mean one he wouldn't be around bc it's too much risk to my kids! Good luck!

 

[Alaskan]

I've tried and tried these same steps with my little 13 week silkies and my 5 months old older hens. I've tried multiple times within the last month - month and a half. No luck. My girls are just way too brutal. I've had small areas for the silkies to escape to and my girls wait for them to pop back out and go right for their faces as soon as they do. They all have free ranged fine together quite a few times and no problems. As of now I have 1 coop and my older birds like going to my neighbors (who are the kind of people that have that I'm better attitude and are completely rude) so I have to keep them in a run and the silkies free range bc they stay close to home. The silkies were penned in a small pen right beside the older birds their whole lives until they got too big for my little brooder pen and when they free range they're always walking around the older birds run but they still get picked on horribly. Last time I tried to introduce I sat for 2 hrs with them and it was like my hens turned into psycho cannibals and they wanted to eat them! I do have 2 other little babies getting close to 1 month and my silkies are perfect with them with no pecking or anything so I'm thinking about just making a separate coop for the silkies and the 2 littles and leaving the older ones..

Sorry so long but any ideas on what to do?

I have heard that integrating Silkies can at times be difficult to impossible.

In your case, I would lock the Silkies in the main coop for a week with the old girls in the tiny brooder whatever you have... you might have to make a chicken tractor if there isn't enough space...

Then add the old girls to the coop withthe Silkies, see if that works.

But maybe you just need more space, and a second coop is the best choice.