Planning Chick Integration of 2 groups - 1 group with Mama Hen & 1 separate brooder group

[Azulette]

Hi there-

I’m hoping for some advice on chick integration.

I have 7 chicks, all the same age, some of differing breeds. Broody/mama hen is a Prairie Bluebell Egger. I used the night time approach for placing the chicks under her. The following early morning, this first-time broody hen rejected 3 of the 7 chicks (aggressively pecking 2 chipmunk ones and injuring another’s [black chicks] foot); she accepted 2 yellow ones and 2 black ones. No blood was observed but she was getting physical with those 3 (aggressively pecking [to convince them to go back under her?] and she picked up one by the top of the head and shook it) - those 3 have been removed and are now in a separate, indoor brooder.

The 4 chicks she has kept/accepted are in a “look-no-touch” area of the enclosed coop (outside) with her. I had planned to integrate that "Mother Hen group" into the rest of the run with the other adult chickens with a modification of these 2 methods at around 2 weeks old, making sure to have areas the babies can hide under (and the “safe” portion of the coop they can return too) if they feel threatened by the older girls:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rst-turkey-strut-to-weaning-the-chicks.76878/

My question is when/how best to integrate the brooder/rejected chicks into the flock (or into the chick sub-flock?)?

I was thinking of moving the brooder chicks outdoors (with the heater) into the “look-no-touch” area for 2 week or so when the mother hen starts to take her batch of chicks to the roosting area with the bigger girls at night. Or should I wait until the mother hen has weaned the 4 and introduce the other 3 then?

Advice and input are appreciated – thanks!

 

[Azulette]

@rosemarythyme - what do you think might work here?

 

[Ridgerunner]

How big (in feet) is your coop? Your run? Photos could really help to see how it is laid out. How many chickens do you have in your flock? I'm trying to get some idea of what you have to work with. How much room and where can they sleep that is predator safe. It sounds like you have electricity out there for heat if needed. Where was your broody when she hatched? In the coop (probably in a pen) or totally isolated? Basically could the other hens see her or do you need to do a totally new integration with her?

I think you have a lot of options but which options depends a lot on what you have to work with.

 

[mcdze]

honestly, doesnt look like you have alot of chicks .. if you want to keep them, safest bet is combine them and keep them seperate until 6 or so weeks .. confining them in a smaller coop or run with other mature birds likely wont end well ..

 

[Azulette]

How big (in feet) is your coop? Your run? Photos could really help to see how it is laid out. How many chickens do you have in your flock? I'm trying to get some idea of what you have to work with. How much room and where can they sleep that is predator safe. It sounds like you have electricity out there for heat if needed. Where was your broody when she hatched? In the coop (probably in a pen) or totally isolated? Basically could the other hens see her or do you need to do a totally new integration with her?

I think you have a lot of options but which options depends a lot on what you have to work with.

Hi there-

Thanks for the quick response! A few answers:

• I run a “compact” backyard (residential area) operation. The enclosed, predator safe coop/run is ~6’x10’ (60SF), the coop portion being ~6’x4’ and with 3 nest boxes (27SF total; so 87SF total in the enclosed area). They have daily access to a supplemental run area ~200SF that is fenced off but open to the sky (see attached pic). Tight, but seems to be working OK – the girls don’t seem to peck eachother (no ones losing any feathers).
• I currently have 10 hens, all 1YO. Planning to phase out 4-5 of the older hens to make way for ~4 of the incoming chicks. I’ll re-home the other chicks not keeping (feed stores had minimums).
• The area I have fenced off currently for the “outdoor brooding” with the mama hen is the area under the coop, so approx. 24SF (you can see it in that first photo posted). I have enough room to add a medium sized dog kennel in the enclosed run area but that would start to get a little tight.
• The broody didn’t hatch (I tried that and it failed, none of the eggs progressed past 10 days or so), I gave her ~2 day old chicks. She was in the nest box. After 1 day in the nest box with the chicks I moved her to the “outdoor broody” area described above. It’s fully separated from the main run with hardware cloth – the older chicks can see and hear the group but not interact with them. The other group of 3 chicks are in a separate, indoor brooder by themselves (cannot see/hear the flock).

 

[Azulette]

honestly, doesnt look like you have alot of chicks .. if you want to keep them, safest bet is combine them and keep them seperate until 6 or so weeks .. confining them in a smaller coop or run with other mature birds likely wont end well ..

Fair! I saw this all as an "experiment" to see if this specific hen that was going broody every month could actually "rear" the chicks she was instinctually yearning for. I was annoyed having to "broody break" her monthly by putting her in the dog kennel in the run. She's a prairie bluebell egger- not prone to go broody. If she was a good mother, it would be a tally in the positive column for her, otherwise she's up on the replacement list.

 

[rosemarythyme]

@rosemarythyme - what do you think might work here?

Unfortunately I've never had a broody sync up with chicks, so all my integrations are of human raised chicks with an adult flock, no broody in the mix.

You have the further complication of a 3 way integration: adult flock, broody with chicks, human raised chicks - just to start, I would plan on rehoming the human raised ones to remove that extra headache since you mentioned only wanting to keep half the chicks.

Thanks for posting photos and describing your set up though - even without trying to integrate a broody & babies I can say the space is definitely tight for integration as that always favors having more space. You might need to rehome some hens in advance just to make a bit more space to allow integration to happen.

 

[Azulette]

Unfortunately I've never had a broody sync up with chicks, so all my integrations are of human raised chicks with an adult flock, no broody in the mix.

You have the further complication of a 3 way integration: adult flock, broody with chicks, human raised chicks - just to start, I would plan on rehoming the human raised ones to remove that extra headache since you mentioned only wanting to keep half the chicks.

Thanks for posting photos and describing your set up though - even without trying to integrate a broody & babies I can say the space is definitely tight for integration as that always favors having more space. You might need to rehome some hens in advance just to make a bit more space to allow integration to happen.

Thank you so much for providing your perspective and advice!

That's probably the most straightforward (and safest) approach for all birds involved.

I was hoping to find a way forward since I wanted to keep one specific chicks (breed) from the human-raised flock, but I'll shortlist the breed again for my next batch of chicks (hopefully in 2 years or so when my older girls start phasing out).

Thanks again!