Fontaine
Songster
Space is not an issue. The 3 1/2 months old have been divided in a very large fenced area for two weeks from my 8 1/2 month old pullets. The Roost I have separated for now. The Pullets all get along fine with each other. I have a mix of Bantum‘s and regular size chickens . this week I tried to open the gate and let them co mingle. None of the pullets excepted the chicks being around, and they all chased and pecked and chased at every one of them. The Bantum‘s were as scary to them as the larger birds. so the chicks spent the whole day on top of the sunroom huddled in a group. As long as they stayed in their place, the pullets didn’t bother them. I couldn’t stand seeing them spend the day there with no food or water and terrified. There’s such sweet chicks I would have to say the same for my Pullets but now I’m calling them the mean girls. I know there is a pecking order to be established and so far the aggression is just Chase and peck. There’s no hurry integrating them, but I would like to sooner rather than later for convenience my question is, would more time allow the chicks to stand up for themselves? I even tried moving the group out of their area onto a big lawn space to see if that might work. It didn’t the pullets grazed in the chicks hid in the bushes. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks.