what age do you put the young hens in with the older ones

[troy4]

if it helps i can see if i can take pics of my two biggeswt hens so you can look at their body sizes and see if their ready

 

[five is my dog]

that would help!

 

[Sweet T]

I think it would be good if you could do it a few hours at a time while you are there to watch, letting them spend the night apart, like usual. Do this a few times until you are comfortable and sure that everyone is getting along.
I have two pens at home, the hens/rooster and the 1-3 month old chicks. They spend the night in their own pins, but all free range together during the day. Everyone gets along just fine. Occassionally one of the smaller chicks goes in to roost with the hens at night, and I just leave them.

 

[Sweet T]

Also keep in mind that anytime you introduce a new girl to your regular hens, she's coming in at the bottom of the pecking order. All the other birds will take shots at her.

 

[five is my dog]

Also keep in mind that anytime you introduce a new girl to your regular hens, she's coming in at the bottom of the pecking order. All the other birds will take shots at her.

yep! thats why if you put the new ones in as groups they will do better and wont get bullied as bad but they will still be bullied.

 

[troy4]

well i have done that once with a new hamp and a sex link black sex link

 

[troy4]

well i know that she is at the bottom

 

[troy4]

just a few minutes ago i put one of the young ones in thereand i fed them scratch, in they still attacked her

 

[crowinncluckn]

How many new chickens compared to the number of older ones? If you have a lot of older ones and just a few young ones it will be harder. If you have more young ones than older ones the pecking gets spread out more, but it is still going to happen. I wait until 18 to 20 weeks because they will have stopped the baby cheeping sounds and will be about the same size. If I have just a few younger ones. I add an old hen to the younger ones each day until they are all together. It works pretty smoothly that way, but there is still going to be pecking. If I have more young ones, I just mix them together and watch them to make sure no one is seriously hurt. Any overly mean hen, gets removed for several days. when I put her baack she is usually easier to get along with.

 

[troy4]

ok so i have 10 older chickens and12 younger ones