Successful Integration!

Yesterday was our big integration day!  We permanently put the seven chickens from the grow-out pen in with the larger flock.  I simply closed off the door to the grow-out pen yesterday morning.  The younger chickens spent the day out in the pen with the older chickens - with plenty of room and plenty of places to hide if one of the older chickens pecked at them.  The day went along with minimal pecking as they began working out the new pecking order.

As nighttime fell, several of the younger chickens went right up to the big roost with the others.  There were three that seemed lost and stayed near the door to the grow-out pen - obviously wanting to go back to their familiar roosting place.  I had to physically pick them up and place them on the roost.  Tonight they will most likely all go to the roost on their own.

In the younger flock I had one Swedish Flower Hen.  She is smaller than the other birds, and I noticed that she was being picked on more out in the run.  Since she was so small - I moved her back to the grow-out pen which by then was housing the chicks from the brooder.  The brooder chicks were 10 Swedish Flower Hens and 3 Black Copper Marans.  Since I would eventually put all the Swedish Flower Hens together anyway, and since there wasn't that big a difference in sizes, I felt it was a good time to put all the SFHs together.  And it worked!  When I checked on them later, they were all piled up together sleeping.

Now we have an empty brooder pen in the chicken house.  Later this week I'll clean it out - and soon the new chicks that are hatching will move from the brooder in our guest room into the brooder in the chicken house.