What to do with young pullets

[Cel45]

ok, so I have two uoumg pullets 9 and 10 weeks old that I have had in quarantene. i have tried to imtroduce them to my two adult hens slowly. Today, I have let them out with the big girls with just some chasing but just stayimg apart for the most part. Sjould I put them im the coop after dark? I is a small temp coop (converted rabbit hutch) or just back in their cage for the night? TIA!

 

[cavemanrich]

You are going about the introduction the right way. Best to start out when they are outside free range, or in a run.. Is it possible to put them inside that small coop with cage and all?? This way they would get acclimated to each other with no possible harm to the small ones. After a few days, you can try to put them together and observe. Eventually they will accept each other.. Putting them together after dark is ideal , and when daylight comes, the chickens may think .............. You always been here? right?

WISHING YOU BEST

 

[aart]

You are going about the introduction the right way. Best to start out when they are outside free range, or in a run.. Is it possible to put them inside that small coop with cage and all?? This way they would get acclimated to each other with no possible harm to the small ones. After a few days, you can try to put them together and observe. Eventually they will accept each other.. Putting them together after dark is ideal , and when daylight comes, the chickens may think .............. You always been here? right?

No, uh huh....this doesn't often work well, especially with such small numbers.
Like bobbie-j sez "chickens aren't the brightest animals on this planet, but they're not that stupid.

Best to continue to let them range together for a couple weeks before putting the newbies in the coop,
especially if the coop is small and there's no way for them to get away from pecking order aggression.

How big is your coop?
How 'temp' is it?
More info would help.


Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

It's about territory and resources(space/food/water). Existing birds will almost always attack new ones.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best of mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders. If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.

Best example ever of chick respite and doors by azygous https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock