When can I mix my babies with my big girls?

[Ladybirds9]

I have 23 six-week chicks and 8 full-grown hens. The 8 ladies have been living in their chicken tractor for the past year, and we have now built a big new coop for the little ones. When can I move the big chickens out of their chicken tractor and in with the little ones?

 

[Kittymomma]

You'll be able to do it sooner then is usual because the youngsters outnumber the big girls by a large margin. I had about the same ratio last year and did it when the chicks were about 10-weeks old. It's also going to help that the youngsters will be on their home turf and not the other way around. As long as there is plenty of room and plenty of roosting space it should go pretty well. If you free range at all you might want to range them together for a few days before the big move and then put the hens into the new coop at night.

 

[math ace]

I had 15 chicks that I tried to introduce to 2 older pullets and it did not go well. The 2 older ones cornered my babies and caused all kinds of fear.

We separated them and tried again a couple of months later. It was nasty for about a week with each day getting a little better. It was rough for another week after that.

These are the things that I did that made it better - - - -

MAKE SURE THE BABIES HAVE SOME HIDING SPACES. We leaned wood against the fence, added plastic chairs they could hide under, etc.
ADD EXTRA FEEDERS AND WATERERS. This helped a lot. The two dominate ones tried to cut the babies off from food and water. We added several feeding and watering stations for them.

Good Luck

 

[kelidei]

Quote:
Although I am not the OP I wanted to say thanks for your response. Currently I have nine 12 week old chicks segregated in one of my coop/runs. They have been there for about a week. The older ones will occasionally try to peck through the fencing. In about a week I was thinking I would open the door to their little enclosure in the run and let them begin to venture out with the older ones. The suggestion of hiding places is excellent--- Thanks!