# Integrating the Flock



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

My older three birds are going to have to make some elbow room in their little heads for the current teenagers and tweens. The teenagers who are now just over eight weeks old have been living in the run extension in a wire dog crate for a week. they have their own food and water of course and keeping them there has been good since they eat a different formula and I don't think little Phoebe is tall enough to reach the regular waterer yet. It has also given them all a chance to size each other up since the grown ups can go in the run anytime they want.

Today I let all six birds loose to forage in the yard. There was a little bit of chase and peck with squeals between one of my older birds and each of the pullets, but none of it was over the top so when I gathered them up after a while I had the three older birds already in and brought each of the youngsters over as I caught them. The same older bird (Ruth) came out to the run and behaved pretty harshly with the Phoebe so I intervened before anything injurious happened. I know if one of the younger birds ends up hurt she will be a vulnerable target for the others.

I will do the same procedure tomorrow and hopefully it will be a bit calmer. If any of you has chickens has suggestions LMK. One question I have is if it seems that it is just Ruth who takes exception to the younger birds would there be any point in putting her in the dog crate and letting the others integrate and then reintroduce her back. She would be able to see and hear all of the other birds if I did that.

It is my hope to have the six older birds together by the end of August and to have moved the three littles into the dog crate once that integration is done.


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

It's been way too long ago for me to have any personal advice for you, but, BOY do I remember the relentless pecking at any poor pullet who got an injury that bled.

There is this from Purina - I had never really thought of the dust bath, the toys, and something else for them to peck.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Beautiful Blue, thanks so much for that summary. They do have adequate space and plenty of water access, but only one feeder at the moment so I may need to add another feeder so there is no crowding there. They do have toys. I have a hanging treat ball as well as treat balls that I stick greens into that have bells in them for them to roll around. They also have a swing in the run, but can't quite use it right now because of the dog crate. They also dig their own dust bath bowls in the coop. The one thing I will have to put out for them is a big 25 pound treat block I have that I have been saving for around this time when everyone would appropriately be able to eat it. It will go out tomorrow before I do round two of integrating time.

I truly hope to avoid having any blood shed since it does really draw a target on the back of the hurt bird.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

*Huge Progress Today*

I took the littles outside for their first time and also let the teens and grown ups loose to forage and mingle. Mostly the two groups of grown ups and pullets (teens) kept to themselves, but they did mingle a bit. There was a little chasing and running away crying, but very little. At one point Ruth (adult) and Phoebe (teen) got into a squabble in the dog crate. I intervened before any blood was shed and Ruth settled down very quickly. I took Phoebe over and put her in the ex pen with the little girls since I want to make sure that the teens and tweens remain socially adapted to each other as they were when they were all still in the house. I added Miriam and Hannah into the pen with the little girls for a while. When I brought the little girls back in the house I left the door to the dog crate open. Ruth walked past a couple of times and left the three pullets alone. I went back out and gave everybody some greens that were about to go over the hill and Sarah went out to the run to eat with the youngsters! The crate door is still open and I haven't heard any squabbling, so I think I may leave things that way for the night.

Here are various pictures. My adult birds are two light and one dark blue Ameracauna (Sarah (dark), Rachel and Ruth). The older youngsters are two blue splash marans (Hannah and Miriam) and a buff orpington (Phoebe). The younger chicks are a buff orpington (Naomi) and two lavender orpingtons (Rebekah and Esther).


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Here are some more random pictures of some of the crew from their outing this afternoon.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

The youngsters have been outside for two weeks now and they are still using the dog crate as their home base, although I leave the door open all the time now. The big girls go out to the run and every now and again I hear a little squawking of unhappiness, but it is mild and ends quickly. We had a little break through this evening when I saw that Hannah was peeking into the coop. I threw some dried meal worms on the floor and she actually took a couple of forays across the threshold to get goodies from the big girl side. tomorrow I will put all of the treats on the big girl side and see if that entices them to cross over more easily. Once I know they will go to the coop then I can start to put the littlest littles outside. They will be six weeks old this week, so not so little anymore.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I've seen even more progress this morning in that all three of the pullets have crossed into the coop from the run. Not much response to their appearance was made either, so we are getting closer and closer.

I have some great treats for them today, tomatoes, bananas and a seed and kibble treat block that I have been waiting to put into the coop for when I knew that all of those bigger girls would have a chance to work on it. It weighs 20 lbs, so it will last quite a while, but I may put it out today.

I will try for some pictures later.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

The big girls wanted out to forage for a while which afforded the pullets a chance to explore the coop a bit on their own. Here they are getting the idea that there are good treats on the other side of that little doorway. You can see through to the run and a bit of the dog crate door. Miriam was the first to come through the doorway this time and I saw Phoebe in the coop herself earlier, so each of them has taken the first step across on her own at least once.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Great progress. Since I have never had chickens, it's fun following your chicken adventures.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Glad to hear that things are going so well with the chickens. If Ruth gets to pecky, you certainly could pull her out of the flock for a few hours. It has been my experience that "separation time out" knocks the bossy hen down a peg or two in the flock hierarchy. Doesn't sound like you are going to have to intervene much, though. Can't wait to hear how the babies integrate!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Charmed, yes I have thought that somewhere along the line I might put my cranky girl in the dog crate and let the others mingle without her getting in the way. I will keep an eye on things during the day today and may put her by herself for a while. In the meantime when BF came home last night he saw that after the ameraucanas went to roost for the night the pullets had all gone into forage in the coop, so things continue moving along in the right direction.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I decided yesterday that I have had it with having chickens in the house and that the youngsters would move outside today. The pullets (2 marans and a buff orpington are doing fine with the older birds. I have not closed the dog crate door or the door between the coop and the run for about ten days. They mingle a bit in the run during the day and the pullets go spend time in the coop once the big birds go up to roost for the night and there is still enough light in the run for the younger birds to think they should still be up and about. The older birds leave them in peace for that.

Today I took the youngest birds (hatched July 5th) out to the ex pen for a while and let everyone else loose. The older birds came over and checked them out a few times and it seemed pretty tame so I opened the ex pen gate and let everyone wander as they wanted. There was a bit of chasing and a little bit of pecking, but nothing too bad. Most of the unfriendly behavior is from one bird so she may get a time out in the dog crate tomorrow if she continues. Once everyone had had enough of foraging (all had full crops and had gone in the coop or run and settled down for resting) I took the youngsters and put them in the dog crate. Everything is peaceful and the weather sounds good for the next couple of days so it will be an easy transition. I have the brooder pen set up still in case I need to bring them back in for some reason.

Here are some pictures of the three youngest birds (Rebekkah, Naomi and Esther, still to be decided who gets which name).


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Nice, healthy looking pullets!


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

LOL...I've been wondering - please let me know...

if your hens will go in to roost during the solar eclipse!! I think you are at about 70% where you are.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We will be at about 70% I think. I imagine that the older girls will go roost. The pullets are out in the run with a tarp over them for shade and rain protections so they may hunker down too, but so far the pullets stay up later than the big girls since the run is on the west end of the coop and stays lighter later.

I went out and checked on everybody just as it was getting really dark last night and all of the pullets were crying a bit. I think the older three were upset that they were deprived of their usual roost perch and the younger three were just confused about where they were since it was their first night outside. Everyone is fine this morning though and when I first looked out to see what they were doing the three older birds were in the run with everyone else. I will leave the set up as is until this time next week since I will be away at a training clinic with Lily from Thursday through Sunday this weekend. I don't want BF to have to figure out what do do if there is a big fight, so we will make sure there won't be one. The youngest birds will be seven weeks old on Wednesday. The middle group is ten weeks old today. I am not sure how long it will take the marans to start laying but the older buff orpington should start in about 2 months.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

The younger group of pullets has been outside since Sunday and very early Thursday morning Lily and I will be leaving for a four day workshop, so I want the set up to be the easiest it can be for BF to take care of the birds. This morning when I gave fresh water and food I opened the dog crate door where the youngest birds have been segregated and watched and listened for squabbling. There having been none while I was there I left the door open so that all nine birds could intermingle. It looks like everything went okay since there are no feathers other than molts floating around and nobody is bloodied. I am going to leave them this way going forward unless something changes. This way he can fill just the two larger waterers and scatter pullet feed in the run. The big girl feeder will last for four days. He can also give them meal worms and veggie treats. Peeves is out in the yard now (birds are all confined) and when I went to check on him he was very involved with one and then the other of the buff orpingtons. My first buff (Salome, who died over the winter) was his special girlfriend and I am guessing he thinks she has been split into two smaller versions of herself and returned to him. Funny old man...

BTW Beautiful Blue it didn't get dark enough during the eclipse to send the birds to roost, but they were pretty quiet at the darkest part of it.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I have still been having one witchy older bird giving the business to the pullets. None of it has been really knock down drag out stuff, just some chasing and a bit of pecking on well feathered areas of the bodies of the victims, but now that days are getting shorter and cooler I want all of the birds to sleep in the coop and the pullets have mostly been staying out in the run during the day and at night.

To remedy things I put the bossy girl in the dog crate and let everybody else forage and wander past her for most of a day over the weekend. She has generally been much more polite (but not totally so) since her time out. Today I happened to have only her out at the end of their morning forage and the others all mingled freely both in the coop and the run.

Today I decided I needed to give the pullets an incentive to go sleep in the coop so I took out the dog crate and the perch I had in it. The only off the ground place to sleep would have been on the swing which is too short for the six of them and which they haven't mastered balancing on yet. Drum roll please I am thrilled to say that when I went outside with Lily and javelin a few minutes ago everybody was in the coop. The old ladies were up on their usual high perch and the pullets were all down on the lowest perch in the coop which is really a day roost perch, but they are in! A couple of them are likely to get pooped on by the ladies above, but that seems a small thing for having them all inside. Hopefully in the next couple of nights they will reorganize the sleeping arrangements. There is plenty of room, five night perches high up that can each allow three or four birds and two nest boxes that can each take two or more birds.

It is interesting to notice that although when foraging they will all intermingle at various times they tend to stay in three groups by age, grown ups, June 12th hatch and July 5th hatch birds. My middle group is twelve weeks old now. I expect I might get eggs from the buff orpington in about 6-8 weeks from that group. I am not sure how early the marans mature so they could also start around the same time. I should be able to tell those eggs apart by color even though they are all brown layers since the maran eggs should be pretty dark. The youngest birds should be 3-4 weeks behind the middle group on laying, so probably sometime in November for them. The lavender orpington eggs should be light brown with a pinkish tinge so I will know when they start too.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Progress continues. There are still occasional reminders from the grown ups that they think they hold the high ranks and they still control the highest night roosting perch, but the older of the buff orpingtons and one of the marans have shown interest in getting off the lowest perch at night and they haven't met resistance. I watched them for a while yesterday when they were putting themselves up for the night. It was pretty interesting and rather funny all at the same time. The three youngest birds all seemed content to remain on the lowest perch while the marans and the older buff went through all sorts of rearrangements. There was lots of jockeying for who would be on the end, who would be in the middle, who was next to who. The two lavenders definitely stuck together and the younger buff seemed to be a bit torn between sticking with her age cohort vs. being with the other buff. the marans are bigger than all the others at the moment and they acted like klutzes stepping all over the others and knocking them off the perch while trying to decide where to settle.

The best thing was that this morning the pullets were in the coop and the big girls were in the run, then everybody was in the coop and then all in the run with no chasing, feather pulling or crying!

Here are a couple of pictures of my big girls (ameracaunas, blue eggs) and my youngsters out and about in the yard today.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

This morning I saw several of the pullets drink from the nipples of the coop waterer, so that takes care of one other concern that needs to be resolved before the weather gets cold. I am not sure whether I will leave a waterer in the run over the winter. I have a heater for the coop water, but think I would have to buy a new heater for the other one. If I can avoid doing that I would be happy to do so. When the weather isn't freezing I will always keep two waterers since that and two feeders reduces the likelihood of conflicts, but if I can maintain peace with one winter water source I wouldn't mind.


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## mashaphan (Sep 4, 2014)

Be careful,Catherine,I may have to buy you a Chicken shirt-i saw a few cute ones on FB!:laugh::trytofly:

Martha


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

So interesting to hear about the integration process. It never occurred to me that it could be even needed! Congrats. How is the crabby lady hen?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

She is stil crabby on occasion, but the pullets are much bigger now (a couple of them bigger than her) so she still "barks" but doesn't "bite" so much. It all is much better when they have a chance to get loose and spread out in the yard. Unfortunately it isn't safe to leave them loose all the time.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

We are down to a few old hens and the one banty rooster. The funny thing is that they all went to roost during the eclipse here, even though the sky just got a bit shadowy. We all watched the eclipse and noticed how quiet the hens got. They stayed quiet for about thirty minutes and then started coming out again, just like it was the break of dawn. The rooster did not crow as much as usual; only gave a few obligatory volleys. Our crows were, also, silent for a bit. Between the silence and the shadowy light, there was a somewhat eerie effect.


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