Will they come together??

[LolaDaisy]

Hello everyone! I have an established flock of 8 hens. I have 18 (almost 4 months old) chicks I raised in the brooder. I converted a small barn in to a temporary coop for the young ones. The birds all free-range together all day. They have known each other well for months now. They all get along fine for the most part. One of my big girls does still pick on the runt. I have tried twice now to move the chicks in to the actual coop at night. But the next evening they all go straight back in to the barn instead. Except for the rooster. He ditched the younger birds for the grown hens after the first attempt. My question is should I stop trying to force it? Will the young ones eventually join the bigger birds in the coop or do I need to keep trying to integrate them myself?? Thank you for reading!

 

[fluffycrow]

Usually, the youngsters start joining the grown-up group when they start laying.

The young males start trying to impress the mature hens (and thus, potential mate partners) at an earlier age. Their affections are not reciprocated most of the times, but they still try. If you have multiple cockerels in your youngster group, it is possible that multiple groups will be formed.

Either way, don't bother intervening in their roosting patterns, as long as both the coop and the barn are predator safe. They will figure out the rest on their own soon enough

 

[LolaDaisy]

Usually, the youngsters start joining the grown-up group when they start laying.

The young males start trying to impress the mature hens (and thus, potential mate partners) at an earlier age. Their affections are not reciprocated most of the times, but they still try. If you have multiple cockerels in your youngster group, it is possible that multiple groups will be formed.

Either way, don't bother intervening in their roosting patterns, as long as both the coop and the barn are predator safe. They will figure out the rest on their own soon enough

Thank you so much! He is my only rooster, so hopefully they'll all come together when they're ready!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Don’t force it just let them figure it out. Your rooster is branching off because he is like a teenager boy who thinks he’s cool because he hits on older women. Your older hens are going to do the hen equivalent of a good slap across the face for harassing them and trying to get down i.e they will physically put him back in his place. Eventually he should get the memo that most grown women don’t like that crap

 

[Ridgerunner]

How big is that coop, in feet or meters? You have 26 chickens, that is a lot. Do the young ones have enough room to get away from the older ones when they are locked in there? That might be your problem.

When I move pullets from my grow-out coop to the main coop after they have ranged together for a month I wait until dark and toss the pullets in the main coop. I leave them locked in overnight and am down there at daybreak the next morning to see how it is going. Typically the adults are on the coop floor and the pullets are on the roosts. They are able to stay out of harm's way up there.

I lock up the grow-out coop so they cannot go back in there. Sometimes all or some go into the main coop the next night but often some go back to the grow-out coop area and try to sleep there. So after dark when they are easy to catch I catch them and toss them in the main coop. I consistently do this every night until they put themselves to bed in the main coop. Each group can be different but it hardly ever takes more than 2 or 3 nights.

Your facilities are different from mine so your mileage may vary. We are each unique so things can work differently.

The main reason I want them to sleep in the main coop is that I want them to lay in the nests when they start laying. They might anyway, I think they tend to copy the older hens when they start laying, but I think them sleeping in there improves my odds.