Little chickens still cant find their way to bed.

[SuzyB]

As mentioned in another thread recently, my now almost 10 week old girls still cant find their way back to their run and house.

My 4 oldies have their own house/run and the little ones are currently in the shed with their own run. I kept them in there for the first 4 weeks and then started to let them free range in the evenings with the older girls to get them used to one another. There has been no fighting so all is well in that respect but when the older ones take themselves off to bed, the little ones come stand at the patio doors or sit on the patio table looking in through the kitchen window.

When we first got them (at 5 weeks) I would carry them from the run into the kitchen for the kids to hold and stroke them and to get them used to being handled, for 10 minutes, then take them back.

I thought perhaps I'd caused the problem, maybe they think thats what needs to happen at night, but even now when they come out of the run into the garden by their own volition, they just dont seem to be able to find their way back. Its not even a big garden! Each night I find one on the patio and one on the table by the kitchen window.

Im wondering if now is a good time to put them all together in the hope that they'll get the idea from the big ones or do you think 10 weeks is still a bit too little to mix them?

They keep out of the way of the biggies in the garden after realising they are bottom of the pecking order but it would be a different matter in the run.

Any advice? Ive tried shutting them in for a few days but even that didnt work. Have I made a rod for my own back but handling them??

[moola]

10 weeks is probably too young IMO and I would be tempted to keep them separate until they are about 20-24 weeks - however I do know that many people intergrate youngsters very well. P'haps you could try and integrate them this w/end and see how it goes.

Clean the big coop out totally and add some spray some white vinegar in. You're looking to take away/overpower some of the old chickeny smells.
New bedding etc.
Put them in at night -They will not fight when asleep.
Add multiple drinkers and feeders into the run - well spaced out.
Let them out and stay near the the run for a while.
Throw some corn down for your hens, as a distraction.
Just watch them and check them throughout the day. Let them out if you can.... in the afternoon,
The odd peck here and there is not an issue but if they start to draw blood on your little ones I would step in and separate - it may stress your little ones and at 10 wks they can easily die.
I would also think about adding in extra perches in the run and extra hidey places - so that it is not just a flat open space - and the little ones have an area to regroup and relax.

It may all go perfectly well but be on the look out ....

[MaureenHall]

Is it still fairly light or dusk-ish when you're wanting them to go to bed? If some of them are finding their way "home" then leaving the stragglers just a little bit longer won't do any harm. Mine are all going in to bed by 6.15pm now and there's always 1 that waits till it's pitch black before she finally decides she'd rather be warm with the others than cold on her own! Maybe they'll get the idea if you're not there immediately to do it for them, but pop them in if they look as if they're going to stay out all night

[Suechooks]

I wondered about food? Aren't the youngsters on Growers ration and the older ones on Layers? If so they might not get the correct diet if you start mixing them at this age. I also was told to wait till they were about 20 weeks so they were fully grown and able to hold their own with the adults.

[SuzyB]

Thanks for the advice.

Yes, Sue, they are on growers and the others on layers, I'd forgotten about that fact, I'll keep them seperate for a couple more months. I'll also give them a bit longer to go to bed, I think Im assuming that just because the oldies have gone to bed, the littlies should too - I should know better than that from having kids, they'll stay up as long as they can wont they!

[RichmondHens]

You could give them their corn treat in their run then shut them in. After two or three days of this they may get the message. Saying this I have tried this with some extremely stupid/mad bantam cocks I am fattening for the pot and they will still not go in of their own accord. They were all "sleeping" in their run in the pouring rain the other night - I had to scoop them up in armfuls and chuck them in their shed. Dozey birds!

Either that or you just try and integrate them with the older birds. They sound like they are getting along ok so chances are they will be fine altogether. Keep them in the run for a couple of days so they don't have access to your patio and will have to go to bed with the others. Good luck! Although we love our chickens, they can be extremely stupid at times!

[Eco-Chic]

They probably want the bedtime story and cuddle from your kids

[frias]

I couldn't cope with all the performance of getting the chicks and mum out to their seperate run and back twice a day so at 8 weeks old put them all in together with the layers. After 4 days their mum turned against them and is the only one to bully them although it's only chasing them off the food. All the laying girls have been eating growers in preference to their own layers pellets and I've never had so many eggs. The 4 'babies' put themselves to bed about 15 mins before the older girls and choose to sleep in the now extended broody coop rather than joining the others in the big coop. Once the boys start to crow they have to go and then I'll pop Rose, the only girl in with the others at night.

[SuzyB]

I think we're sorted now, I left them a little later last night (actually Im full of flu and fell asleep on the settee!), when I woke up it was pitch black, panicked and ran outside and they were nowhere to be seen. Eek! Until I looked in the shed and there they both were, tucked up together

Obviously their bedtime is a little later than the oldies - the oldies must need more beauty sleep.

Thank you for all the advice.

[matthew2riches]

I've always mixed mine from about 12 to 15 weeks.

Never had any real problems apart from with a cockerel I had off andi&di.

[CoraxAurata]

I add young cockerals early if they are staying so the boss bird can put them intheir place while they are young enough to accept it without violence - also they don't fight amounst themselves with a dominant roo to keep order - but thats usually about 14 weeks,
Unfortunately the death of my top roo, sale of second roo, return of fostered out roo and the release frm the cockeral pen of my future breeding roos, plus arrival of new hens all in a couple of weeks has turned everything on its head and whilst mostly calm am waiting for the storm.....(though new birds are in seperate run the boys have spotted them and are taking turns to catwalk up and down as close as they can get, apart from Dorking roo who is delighted to find that apart from a couple of youngsters (future dinners) he has no competion for the main flock with the other boys so intent on the newcommers.... its like a mini soap opera out there!

[RichmondHens]

I agree with you Corax, that the youngsters are kept down by an older male. However, in my fattening pen which has 8 in, I tried to add an older cock recently who I also want to "finish", thinking he would be top dog and all would shake down nicely. He got thoroughly mobbed, with all the teens jumping on top of him and driving him into a corner. In the end I felt sorry for him and went and rescued him. He's now getting some "free range" time till I can rig him a pen in the barn where I'm putting some other fatteners shortly. He can be next to them but separated by a fence so the same thing doesn't happen again. Can't have my roast dinner getting stressed out!!!

[CoraxAurata]

Oh dear! Rotten little toads! No respect for their elders! Didn't you tell them how these things work?

Hope he's happier in his new quarters!

[Hilary B]

Maybe you have to mix the ages before the 'gang' have reached 'teen-equivalent'. I can see why several adolescent cockerels wouldn't take being bossed by ONE adult!