How To Integrate Young Chickens Into The Flock 

Now that's the way u do it until the flock get use to seeing them, after awhile you can let them out and let them mingle and they should be fine, this is the best introduction I've seen so far on RU-vid 👏✋😊

Now that you have them in there, are you giving them all the same kind of feed?

Oh my goodness, all that lovely grass and you have the poor girls confined to such a small place.

Since your laying hens probably eat a layer pellet or crumble are u gonna put a different feeder for those pullets since they don't lay eggs yet? I have 5 laying hens and they eat a layer pellet but I Wana get 5 more but I feed them a grower crumble and I wait until they lay there first egg to switch feeds. Would u just put a different feeder in for the pullets? different

Not sure if I missed it. But did you keep them in there overnights? Or did you move them back into their own coop overnight and back into the run during the day?

Your coop is really awesome I love it!!! Very nice and spacious. That introduction went very smoothly.

What do you do with the babies at night? I don’t want to have to keep bringing them in and out of the house every day so I was wondering at night time where do they go?

True about introducing new hens to existing flock. I learned the hard way and lost some. Now when I get new ones I add apple cider vinegar to their water, ground pumpkin seeds and diatomaceous earth to the feed. Also provide them with a diatomaceous bath bin. This will rid them of intestinal parasites, mites, or fleas.

Do the young ones sleep in the little prefab setup??

I did kind of the same only when I bought my 6 new chicks . I set up my brooder inside the coop (12x12)for 6 week just until the chicks were fully feathered. Then at night I just open door to the brooder and they all woke up together . No fighting , no pecking basically no drama 👍🏼. I figured for 6 weeks the old chickens pretty much considered the new chicks as part of their flock.

What did you do with the littles at nighttime?

What do u do about the mixed diet issue ?

Thank you for this detailed video! I have poults that are 4 months old I have kept in a separate coop but alongside my 2 older hens' coop. Hope to introduce them by dividing the exercise run in half and letting them get used to each other through the dividing mesh. Wish me luck!

A lot depends on the breeds & if there is a cockel involved. My 23 wk New Hamphires (cockerel included) didn't take to 4 adult hens Orringtons. I separated them again & going to try it again this weekend. They share a 2 sided run that's made completely of wire cloth, so they can see each other for 4 weeks now. Cockeral about killed the head OR, who is 9 y/o, the other ORs are 18 months. I've been placing treats on opposite sites of the fencing, forcing them to tolerate each other to get what they want. But the cockeral makes the tension skyrocket, even after the females work it out. 🤷‍♀️

Thank-you for this video. I am releasing the 4 new girls out with the 4 older (2yr. Old) girls tomorrow. A friend gave me a wired cage that I used like you did your wood/wire enclosure. The run is 10'x20' that has worked out very well. Thanks again for your video I feel better about integrating the girls.

It's great to see the pecking from the big girls in action because it helps you gauge what is normal. My littles are 10 weeks old and they have been within sight of the OG girls now for a couple weeks and then just recently I let them all free range together. They didn't do great lol. It was like "Finally, here is my chance" and they chased and bit the littles and even pulled out a few feathers.. so back behind chicken wire they went. We have been slowly trying it again and it is slowllllly getting better. I am going to keep them under strict supervision for the few times they are actually together before I remove the barriers altogether.

Good video… done this many times I usually wait good week and your right you always get that 1 or 2 hens who is bitchy then they settle in with in day good content I joined!

I have a question: when you introduce the younger ones in a smaller pin inside the big walk-in run (by the way, love your chicken run and coop), how about the night time? do you get the small ones to sleep in the same coop with the big ones? And in the morning, you put again the small ones back in the pin? Or, maybe you just keep them in the small pin, they will just sleep inside the pin? not join in the big ones in the coop?

I have six (one is a polish cockerel) born last October. I raised them inside. They went in the coop late February. Now late March I bought 2 Easter eggers. Three weeks later bought a Dominique, two weeks later one Orpington and Sussex. I call the three later purchases of 5 “The Brady Bunch”. To integrate them with my original flock, I split the coop and run down the middle using netting. They perched and ate and played outside next to each other. Well two of my Og flock went broody ended up hatching one egg each so I made a third bunker w/ a run gated in and I alternated days for each flock to go out and roam the back yard. I did this for six weeks. One by one I allowed the if’s with the Brady bunch. They were mean to them. The mama’s. We’re aggressive but I could allow them and the babies with BB no prob. Then the cockerel got out with the mamas no prob. The last three days I let them all out. Today I tore down the netting. They fuss over the food and enforce their dominance but are doing ok. Yours are much nicer than mine were. I was worried for a while and am glad it’s over! Oh and everyone is fine with the six week old chicks too!

So do the young ones sleep overnight in there? While the bigger ones sleep in the coop?

I give fertile eggs or day old chicks to broody hens. Once the babies are fast enough to escape trouble (usually about a week) I let them out in the run with mom of course. She soon sorts out the other hens not to get too close. After a couple of days they are pretty much accepted into the flock. Never had any injuries or deaths.

Nice setup. How do you source that bedding in the run? I’ll look for a video tour of the coop. Very nice.

I have one year old hen. I plan on getting 15-20 chicks some time this week. Any advice on when to combine them?

I really enjoyed your video, thank you! You have beautiful chickens!

Great information... It's amazing to see the chickens run together into the flock Great job! 👍👍👍

I love your set up. Im about to introduce 6 new girls into my 3 year old girls. 6 on 6! Those Rhode Islands Reds are the queens for sure.

what do you do at night time? Put them together right away or make a temporary coop with a plastic tub?

Do you just leave the small ones in the box overnight? They don’t need a roost?

Would love to know if u brought them back n at night while they were n the grow out pen

Thank you, this was very helpful … a video which discussed the subject during the entire video. Exactly what we were looking for. Will be adding 12 pullets divided between two flocks of 4 each with one rooster in each flock. Pullets will be 12 weeks old. Our plan was pretty much the same but always good to view the experience of others. 🇨🇦

Great video, thanks 🙏

Hi. Can you give me the dimensions of this pen?

Do you leave the young ones in that little pen overnight?

I am doing a similar situation. But my small chicks and cage are inside the coop with the bigger hens. So the chick smell and poop is in the coop. And the older hens are used to their smell and being there.😊

What about at night?

Great video very helpful - thznk you.

How old were the pullets?

I noticed that the younger ones pretty much went to the Buff Orpingtons (seems to be a very chill, friendly breed, I only have the one). It really depends on personalities/breeds, and how strong the pecking order is. I used to have a mixed-breed alpha, who was the ultimate mean girl to any newbies. She has passed now, and the pecking order is almost non-existent, so I think when I introduce the next batch, it will likely be easier. Plus I have my friendly Buff Orp to help in the future. As well as their broodiness, they seem to have better mothering instincts of protecting lower ranking birds.

We have five easter eggers we raised since two days old. They are now twelve weeks old and have their coop and pen, but we have two silkees

❤️🙏

This gives me hope for our chicken house

Really great setup for both flocks and integrating info! Tx for sharing!

I have 3 chicks in my basement and 2 adult hens outside in their old coop, which is on its last legs. I built a new coop for the entire flock but it’s currently sitting empty because I read somewhere that introducing the birds into a neutral area like this has good results. What are your thoughts on this?

wow, that was incredible how nice your adult hens were! when i merged my flock this year it was much more brutal

You left the younger birds in that cage overnight as well, correct? If I’m dealing with integrating older birds into my existing flock, would you suggest that I include a roosting bar as well??

We must have gotten the mean girl Buff Orpington because we found two bloodied and hen pecked, lol. They are young.

An extra feeder would help, I think good job

My flock consists of 4 hens and a rooster. I have 4 chicks about 3 weeks old. Will I be able to integrate them into my flock with the rooster? Thanks!

I'll be doing this soon. My hens weren't broody, so I hatched 7 of their babies. They're about 5 weeks old. Every day, I bring them from their brooder to a pen in the run. It's almost like the chicks know which of the hens is their respective mom. Neither of my hens really care, nor does my rooster. I'm itching to let them all mingle, as I've been bringing out the babies as soon as we first had an 80°+ day last week.

The music made me immediately think of Jenna Marbles

I have a 10' x 20' for my chickens sue to being in the city limits. What are you using on the ground? Nice vid.

I love this I'm trying to figure out how to introduce my young birds to the flock. Do you have a rooster in the flock when you were introducing them ?

Great video! Do the young ones go into the coop at night on their own following the older hens?

I am just getting started and appreciate your video as I will likely have to integrate a few types which I never got with my eggs which are incubating right now.

This helps me feel a little bit better. I have a group of black astral orbs and black Jersey giants that are three and a half months old and I also have a cage of black astral orb and barred rock that are 2 months and a half old and they've been next to each other for ever since the little ones were a day old and it's been a couple of months now I was waiting until they were all the same size like recommended but I see that your little chickens are not exactly the same size they're about the same size as mine are and the big ones are about the same size as mine are so do you think it's safe for me to open the baby's cage and let them intermix?

Your coop set up is immaculate! What do you use for your run litter? Did you have to show the new ones where the roost was at night? Sometimes it helps to add another feed/ water source for the new ones

Awesome video! Love your coop its beautiful! ❤

Very good information and well done video. Learned a lot. Thank you

Very helpful, thank you!

How old were the birds you were integrating?

That one hen making all that noise, that’s what my old hen is doing now that the Pullets are in the crate in the run.

Liked your method and the demonstration over time. Thank you!

Yellow chicken name please

Great video! Thanks so much 😊

Great looking coop & run . do you have any lay out for how you built it.

Thanks it will help me alot

My new chickens will not go in the coop at night what can I do

What are the dimensions of your brooder?

Thanks for the video! Did you just leave the younger ones in the grow out pen overnight? Maybe a silly question but we’ve had ours inside for just about two months since we brought them home as baby chicks.

Great video, thank you so much! Love your coop and all the information you shared. I have 3 BO and will hopefully introduce 3 more soon. Thanks for all your help.

how warm is it, that there OK outside in the run? thx

About how old are "growouts"?

Good job thanks for sharing 👍

Thank you

Thanks for sharing!

What is the width of run?

What did you use on the ground for bedding? We've tried a few different things bit that looks like it stays fresh

good job

Increase playback speed to 1.25 or 1.5 and it makes this long windy video much more bearable.

0:38 instant diz for this music