Well, today was the big day. My new chicks/chickens are now 12 weeks old and much bigger. (Remember, I put them with the old girls when they were 6 weeks old and one got attacked by my RIR and beaten up pretty badly.) So, I divided the coop in half and put a 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" plastic coated wire wall across the middle of the coop (floor to ceiling) and anchored it to the walls - making two "rooms". I put the old girls on the side with the nesting boxes and the new ones on the other side. I'm hoping that after some time, they will get use to each other and when I take the wall down, they will get along better this time. The old gals are really mad. They kept flying into the wire wall, trying to get to the young ones. The young ones just coward in the corner trying to stay as far away as they could.
So here's my question…. How many days or weeks will it take for everyone to get along, and it is safe to take down the wire wall?
I'm taking any and all predictions…..
~:> Glenda
How long before I can take down the wall???
i'd leave the wire wall up from 3 days to 2 weeks depending on how they act. my 4 in 1 pens are built with it. i use it to seperate breeds or colors. it is one huge pen and coop but seperated like that to make 4 smaller coops and 4 pens.
if i remember right for one of the 4 in 1's it only took 4 days for mine to settle down. in 2 of them the roosters did it to dominate over the girls because i have a stuborn roo who wants one female for himself but the roo in the next noticed her and was showing off so they were trying to get to each other. the 2 pens of white silkies haven't done it at all... so i was considering just removeing it to open 2 into one big pen with a 2 sided coop. that way all the whites where together. just make sure the juviniles are ready for it and about the same size also because if they are cowering still then they won't protect themselves.
hope this helps,
silkie
I am a bit confused (my usual state), have you have them seperated for 6 weeks?
Yes, they have been in differents parts of the building for the past 6 weeks. They (might) have been able to hear each other, but they have not seen each other.
If you can let them see each other. I put my young ones in a holding pen (a big wooden framed cube wrapped in chicken wire with a top door for feeding etc) inside the chicken house in a corner so they can huddle in one corner if nessecary. They could always see each other and then about a month later released them into the flock. I do let the older ones out during the day when I am outside so the younger ones have sometime by themselves.
There has to be a pecking order, which I believe changes as the chickens do. So if you can let them see each other I would and then in a couple weeks release them. I am sure there will be some scuffles. At 12 weeks the younger ones should be able to stand up to them.
Thats my opinion anyways. They only blood shed in my chicken house was the large male guinea against the large Tom turkey, there was a lot of bruising from those beaks and a scrap on both the turkey and guineas cheeks, and two adolescent guineas scrapped each other heads
This message was edited Aug 22, 2007 3:41 PM
That is exactly what we did with our 'mean hen' she was attacking our rooster, so we put her in a holden pen inside the coop. She spent about 4 or 5 days in there before we let her out. We also let the other chickens out during the day...and then let her out inside the coop with the doors shut for about an hour a day. We let her out the other day and nothing happened! She just started walking around with the rest of the hens.
A few days should be all they need, but keep an eye on them since if they get too aggressive you may have to seperate them again unti they are a bit bigger. Good luck!
Thanks for the help! Yes, they can see each other. The coop is 4' wide x 8' long and the only thing separating them is the wire wall dividing the coop. This evening I checked on them and the new chickens have come out of the corner and are eating and drinking from (their) feeder and waterer. They've learned that the old gals can't get to them so they're roaming their half of the coop. ...So that's a step in the right direction.
If anyone else has experience with this, please let me know your story too. :)
~~ Glenda
I have the same problem and did the same thing to the coop. I divided it in half. I let the 10 older hens out doors with the rooster every evening for a couple of hours and let the younger ones into thier coop and they love it. They know when I say hup hup go into your beddy bye they go into their half of the coop. The younger 6 girls are about 4 months old now. They haven't gone into the run yet. I think that is the next thing I will get them to do. I did try just letting them co-mingle a few times but one of my rhode island reds Hanna thinks she is supposed to protect the younger ones and chases them back into their part of the coop. So I am waiting and hoping I can get them together soon. Some people say about 22 weeks is the right time to intergrate them...so will wait and see. I love my chicks and enjoy them very much.
Marion