When to add pulets to the hen house

[tom's chickens]

I have 12 hens of mixed breeds, and I have 6 pulets of mixed breeds that are 14 weeks old. They can see each from their seperate runs. Have been leting them out to free Range, sepertaly. At what age should I combine them into one flock? Thanks much Tom.

 

[donnavee]

From what I have read on here, there are lots of different opinions. I have 7 1yr old hens of mixed breeds and six 16wk olds of mixed breeds (1 was incorrectly sexed and turned out to be a roo). We kept them in separate housing and runs, allowing the free ranging together until they were about 10wks old. Then, I made a small door in the little girl run which I would open during the day. This allowed the little ones to join the big ones, but escape back to safety if necessary. All has gone surprisingly well, and we moved the little ones to the big coop at night when they were 14wks old.
I will also add, we have a fairly large run and my big girls are not real meanies, though the RIRs can be a bit much at times. Even though the 2 flocks have been together for a while now, they don't really "hang out" together that much. The little ones seem to hang around the Roo most of the time and he is still submissive to the big girls. I'm sure this will change as time goes on

Good luck, just make sure you monitor them when you first put them together - I have read some sad stories about big ones killing the younger ones.
If you are feeding layer pellets, you will also need to switch to a feed without calcium and give oyster shell on the side for your layers - at least until the little ones are about 18wks old.