Integrating 7 week chicks to existing flock

[Saveria]

This is how I do it. Littles have their own little run where bigs can see them for about a week. Then I open the littles run door and split the bigs run in half with temporary divider (at that stage in pic.) The wire where the red arrow is, is bent up just enough that a little can get in and out but a big cannot. There is plenty of clutter on the bigs side incase a little is getting chased and can't make it back to the "little's only" space. Also, the bigs run door is open to 5 acres for free ranging. I do that because they are much less interested in the little's when they are pre-occupied with foraging out there.

View attachment 3500284

I love your coop, BTW.

 

[Browniethechicken]

This is how I do it. Littles have their own little run where bigs can see them for about a week. Then I open the littles run door and split the bigs run in half with temporary divider (at that stage in pic.) The wire where the red arrow is, is bent up just enough that a little can get in and out but a big cannot. There is plenty of clutter on the bigs side incase a little is getting chased and can't make it back to the "little's only" space. Also, the bigs run door is open to 5 acres for free ranging. I do that because they are much less interested in the little's when they are pre-occupied with foraging out there.

View attachment 3500284

Great advice thanks!!!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I love your coop, BTW.

Ohhh thank you! It's not fancy but it's fun. Many years of adding on thanks to chicken math

 

[Browniethechicken]

Get the area cluttered up, wait a week or two (or until the adults show little to no interest in the chicks) and then pick a time when you can supervise to let them out for an hour or two and see how they interact.

I did the supervised (clutter added) one hour session because I thought the hens were not that interested in my 2 new pullets…. I was wrong. Seemed like 2 of my 7 hens were very much interested in pecking them harshly and cornering the heck out of them. The 7 week pullets were terrified. What should I do? Take a step back? Stop? Are they too small? I intervened of course and separated them. How shall I move forward?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I did the supervised (clutter added) one hour session because I thought the hens were not that interested in my 2 new pullets…. I was wrong. Seemed like 2 of my 7 hens were very much interested in pecking them harshly and cornering the heck out of them. The 7 week pullets were terrified. What should I do? Take a step back? Stop? Are they too small? I intervened of course and separated them. How shall I move forward?

Where were they corning them? It's important with clutter that there's at least an avenue in and out - a piece of clutter pushed up against a wall with no outlet is how they get cornered.

This is a layout of the clutter in my run. Note that I leave spaces around all the objects, so birds can run all the way around (and on top of/under) each object.

Some pecking is to be expected. I don't consider it an issue as long as no real damage is being done, and as long as the chicks can get away (hence no cornering) and aren't being constantly pursued. Chickens have around a 5-6' personal bubble if there's nothing to break line of sight, so as long as chicks can get further away from the adults than that, they should stop pursuit, which is what you want to see.

 

[First time Chick mom]

This is very interesting, I am getting ready to do the same with 6 week old chicks, but my flock that I currently have is only 12 weeks old. The reason I got the two flocks so close together is my first flock of 5 chicks only has 2 pullets and I am rehoming the three cockerels. I am not as worried about the two pullets as I am with the three cockerels, so I am waiting until after I rehome them to intergrade the 4 pullet chicks. Which should be in about a week or so. They are already separated in the fun and coop. The size difference in the cockerels and pullets is large, my one cockerel looks to be full grown about 7 or 8 lbs(EE). He sits outside the chick cage, and sleeps beside the separation mesh at night in the coop. The chicks seem calmer when he is near?? The other two cockerels (EE, but look like RIR) try to pick at them, so I will not let them together. The 2 pullets will lay beside the cage, but not really pay them much mind. I figured a couple of weeks with them near will give the 2 pullets time to get use to them, so when I rehome the cockerels, it will not be so lonely for them. Fingers crossed.

 

[PrairiePeckers]

Where were they corning them? It's important with clutter that there's at least an avenue in and out - a piece of clutter pushed up against a wall with no outlet is how they get cornered.

This is a layout of the clutter in my run. Note that I leave spaces around all the objects, so birds can run all the way around (and on top of/under) each object.
View attachment 3502310

Some pecking is to be expected. I don't consider it an issue as long as no real damage is being done, and as long as the chicks can get away (hence no cornering) and aren't being constantly pursued. Chickens have around a 5-6' personal bubble if there's nothing to break line of sight, so as long as chicks can get further away from the adults than that, they should stop pursuit, which is what you want to see.

Do you use terra cotta pots for cubbies? Do you have any photos? I am getting prepared to integrate in a few weeks and like the idea.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you use terra cotta pots for cubbies? Do you have any photos? I am getting prepared to integrate in a few weeks and like the idea.

You can see them here:

They're not pots but I have no idea what they were supposed to be.

 

[PrairiePeckers]

You can see them here:View attachment 3790834

They're not pots but I have no idea what they were supposed to be.

Thanks I don’t know what they are called either but I know where I can get them! Thanks!

 

[Nym]

I bought four 5-6wk-old chicks last September: 3 Lavender Araucana + 1 barnevelder to add to my three Pekin bantams. After a nite inside I put them in a basic pre-fab rabbit tractor around the side of the house. Each day the bantams, on their daily migration around the yard, would stop and graze by the chicks. As the chicks were rapidly outgrowing the tractor, I was gradually moving it closer to the bantams big homemade tractor home each day while the chicks were out free-ranging. They never strayed far from their moving home when the bantams cruised past. In the end I moved the chicks' tractor into the main hen house. Of the four chicks two were male and went back to the breeder, leaving two Araucana hens with a big house all to themselves. By January the two hens were starting to eat with the bantams in a neutral place and for the past week or so head hen Black Betty bantam frizzle has been laying her eggs in the big house! Apart from a few tufts of lavender feathers seen on the lawn they seem to be happy hanging out together all day. It's cool watching the large lavender girls staying respectful of the bantams during treat time.