I have been in the process of merging my 9 week olds with my 16 week olds for about 1 1/2 weeks. It's not too bad except that the majority of the time, the young girls are hiding, as the older girls keep them from food and water etc. There is no co-mingling as I have hiding places etc. I have separate food/water areas, so everyone can eat and drink. There is chasing and pecking but because there are hiding places, I am not sure that they are ever going to start to hang together. Should I remove the crate inside the run? They all roost fairly well together and sometimes the younger girls go into the coop before the older girls and take their spots. Thanks for your thoughts!
I have mixed four different groups this year over the past few months. I have noticed even the first two groups that I mingled together still hang out in their own groups. They pretty much get along together in the run but when they are free ranging, each group that grew up together just hangs out with that group. There is some mingling with the two youngest groups but not much. I don't know if they will change around their groups at all but as long as no one is getting picked on then I am happy.
I've only introduced twice.(i'm still new to all of this) But, both times it took about a month. There was some pecking(no blood)and squaking. I expanded the run and put up extra roosts outside. About 3-4weeks later they all just started hanging together one day.
We started with one hen (an RIR) and added two more (an EF and some sort of white mutt-bird) a few months later. When we added the two you could see there was a definite pecking order just between them. The white one was the stronger, more aggressive of the two started hanging with the original hen and the other one is odd-bird out. Actually she really is an odd little bird come to think of it! ;-) The RIR is by nature in charge and when they're ranging, it's the RIR and BWB (big white bird) together and the Fayoumi is usally off by herself somewhere. The breed isn't known for their social nature, so I can see why this is. Sometimes she's near the other two but not 'with' them, often she's way across the yard, happily vocal all by herself. Seems as tho we have the same thing when they're roosting on the perches in the run and they'll try and run her off the snacks when they're in the run too but they'll always let her come back and grab a few treats, they've never kept her away from the feed or snacks or water for any length of time. Occasionally we see pecking and some chasing but never a huge problem. The odd thing is when they're inside the coop, it seems as though the EF is in charge. She's also the one who goes broody a few times/year and that could have something to do with her personality change when they're inside. I've come to realize it's a waste of time to try and figure out a chicken and to just go with the flow.
