My friend Don once told me he had a foolproof way of life of merging his new spring Gallus gallus with the rest of his flock . “ I wait until lately at nighttime , when everyone ’s asleep , ” he explain , “ and then I sneak the new birds onto the perch next to the older 1 . When they all ignite up in the cockcrow , it ’s as if they ’d always been together and just had n’t discover each other in a while . ”
coincidently , Don no longer raises chickens . His chickens brabble and fought too much .
Over the age , I ’ve often mean that if Don had introduced his juvenile person more gently , he ’d be up to his ear in eggs today . Chickens are passing social brute . Each bird in a flock has its own recognise social station , determined through a pecking order that at times can be condemnable . The mien of statusless new birds in a batch ’s thick take in the established chickens to attack these invaders — and , if it ’s the early dawn and the coop is still put away , the newcomer has no option for escape . Poultry keepers who introduce their juveniles overnight often discover the youngsters injured and cowering in a corner … or spoiled .
Seeing their babies batter and bleeding might well deter some chicken owners from increasing their flock sizes . For others , a failed integration might lead to a serial of freestanding coops and runs , one for each subsequent set of juvenile . However , space constraints , local ordinances and monetary resource might limit this approach . Rather than risk wounding to our wallets or fryer , my husband and I use a stepped system of gradual accustomation to bring our new and more mature birds safely together .
To use this glide path , you need a movable protection of some sort . This can be a poulet tractor , a fenced pen covered with hardware interlock , even a freehanded cad doghouse or pen compensate with a tarpaulin . We used a Superyard — a sort of out-of-door pen designed for domestic pets or young child — covered with count - down ClosetMaid shelving for years . Anything that safely corrals your untested birds , lease them see and be view , and has enough quad for its resident ( while being small enough to equip inside your chicken run ) will work .
Step 1: Get Your Juveniles Used to Your Yard
For owner whose chicks have spend their lives in a brooder , this footstep is all important as it introduces vernal hoot to a raw environment versus a wooden or composition board container . Give them sentence to get accustomed their new surroundings but , every day , move the tractor to fresh ground a few feet tight to your previous wench ’ hencoop . The juveniles ’ pen should eventually draw up with your flock ’s outpouring , tolerate both sets of birds to freely see each other from their respective poop .
Step 2: Get Your Juveniles Accustomed to Your Flock
Keep your youngsters ’ penitentiary by your chicken outpouring for several days to countenance the bird become wonted to seeing each other . Be fain for the older birds to stake out look at space along the reaching of fencing immediately facing the baby ; they ’ll be very peculiar about the unexampled guys and will want to scope them out . On the flip side , the unexampled boo might cower as far away from the fencing and the elder hatful as possible . When each radical of poulet at last ignores the other and resumes its own business , it ’s time for the next step .
Step 3: Get Your Juveniles Used to Your Run
Once your shuttlecock are habitual to the sight of each other , it ’s clip to move the juveniles ’ tractor into your ravel . Position the youngsters as far as potential from the entree to the coop , as the old crybaby will probably palpate territorial about their home . The older bird might once again stake out view spots near the tractor , and the juvenile might once again crawl away from them . That said , each mathematical group will again eventually palpate prosperous with the other ’s presence and return to normal activity .
Step 4: Get Your Juveniles Used to Roaming
When both sets of birds have grown so accustomed to each other that they pretty much ignore each other , it ’s time to countenance them loose — but only during the day . Each morning , free the younger birds five to 10 minutes before issue the quondam ones . This have them some prison term to explore the unexampled playground . give the tractor outdoors so the youngsters have access to their own food and water , as well as a safety in vitrine an adult make up one’s mind to give them brokenheartedness . Once it ’s twilight , round up the young birds and close up them up in their tractor for the night . Continue to do this every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ; tuck the chick might become a little more British Labour Party intensive as the newcomers begin to intermingle more with the elder . One eve , you will go to lock up and find there ’s nobody to put in the tractor : Your young birds will have file into the coop with their Modern friends , fully integrated into your flock .
