introducing new chickens

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This weather is just brutal and my poor chicks are still penned up in the coop.  They are now 10.5 weeks old and getting too big for their pen too.  But i had been told not to let them in with the adult hens until they stopped peeping and they are still making peeping noises.  I also don't want them to be too small when i let them in with the adults as they're penned and can't run off across the yard to escape from my almost sure to be mean to them for a while hens.  
When would you all finally let them loose with the big girls?

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jessmomto2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P'integral Member Rating(1) Perennial Pinner 5 years 132 days Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: Keuka Lake Points: 11417	Post Options Post Reply Quote jessmomto2 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: introducing new chickens Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 5:37pm
	This weather is just brutal and my poor chicks are still penned up in the coop. They are now 10.5 weeks old and getting too big for their pen too. But i had been told not to let them in with the adult hens until they stopped peeping and they are still making peeping noises. I also don't want them to be too small when i let them in with the adults as they're penned and can't run off across the yard to escape from my almost sure to be mean to them for a while hens. When would you all finally let them loose with the big girls?
	Jess Wife to my Rick (5/04), homeschooling mama to Kara (11) and Aidan (7), and our preemie Anna 12/31/12. Raising our kids to know and love the Lord.

stegmanjessica Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P'invaluable Member Rating(39) P'insane Perennial Pinner 4 years 39 days Joined: 16 Apr 2009 Location: In the Rain Points: 15892	Post Options Post Reply Quote stegmanjessica Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 5:43pm
	NO, I wouldn't. I have been having major chicken drama lately with an age gap MUCH less than yours. I introduced some 10.5 weekers to my 13.5 weekers and they were awful and almost starved the newbies. They NEVER came out of hiding for fear of being majorly bullied (and they were!) and I ended up having to separate them in a rabbit hutch and nurse them back to health (literally...syringe feeding them water with vitamins and electrolytes and scrambled eggs!) ugh! Don't do it yet, you'll be sorry. IF you can make a safe place that has adequate food and water for the newbies that the big girls can't get to them (small hole entrance?) that might work, but it probably wouldn't be any better than leaving them where they are. How come everyone is still all penned up at those ages again?
	Mama to John (6), Jeanine (4), and William (2) Please visit my shop, Whirly Girl, for all your hand knit items!

jessmomto2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P'integral Member Rating(1) Perennial Pinner 5 years 132 days Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: Keuka Lake Points: 11417	Post Options Post Reply Quote jessmomto2 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 5:49pm
	I can't free-range my hens because of predators so they're confined to their coop and run. We made a smaller pen within the coop for the chicks to stay in until they're big enough to run with the hens so everyone can see each other but the hens can't get to the chicks. We made it as big as we could fit in the coop but they're still getting too big for it these days.
	Jess Wife to my Rick (5/04), homeschooling mama to Kara (11) and Aidan (7), and our preemie Anna 12/31/12. Raising our kids to know and love the Lord.

erinchelsea Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P'infamous Member Rating(21) P'insane Perennial Pinner 5 years 49 days Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Location: Central Iowa Points: 28596	Post Options Post Reply Quote erinchelsea Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 7:08pm
	How big is your run? Id be hesitant to do it, but we were just in the same situation and I did let the babies out. They are just little guys, only 6 weeks old I think. But, we have a large coop and run and the babies have plenty of spots to hide. The big girls dont pay any attention to them. I was out there checking on them constantly the first few days to make sure none of my babies were getting picked on because of the horror stories I've heard.
	Erin, happy wife of Jason (7/21/07) and mama to Abram (3/09) and Adrie (6/11).

jessmomto2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List P'integral Member Rating(1) Perennial Pinner 5 years 132 days Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Location: Keuka Lake Points: 11417	Post Options Post Reply Quote jessmomto2 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 2012 at 8:00pm
	Our run is 12'x12' right now which i know is considered a little tight for so many birds but plenty of room in winter. I'm hoping to scrounge up some cash to get some electric poultry netting so i can let them out in the yard evenings after the hawk's are gone for the night but then put them in before the coyotes, foxes, and raccoons really get active. I'm really nervous because i know my hens are on the aggressive side. I just had to reintroduce one a couple weeks ago and the only reason she was accepted fairly well was she's the bossy hen and beat up any challengers lickety split. She's actually not the one who worries me-she's a good girl. It's the darn Golden Comets-they're the one's who're aggressive at times even with each other. They've gotten kinda nasty with the chicks through the fence especially if the chicks have a snack the hens think they should have. I wish i could give them their own house but DH won't build them one since he's already building another one for the batch that's arriving later this month. I have to agree that 4 coops is just too many in our yard-3 is going to be bad enough. But if the hens won't accept them he'll just have to build me a duplex when he builds the new coop and these chicks can be on the small side and the next batch on the big side.
	Jess Wife to my Rick (5/04), homeschooling mama to Kara (11) and Aidan (7), and our preemie Anna 12/31/12. Raising our kids to know and love the Lord.