I have orpingtons. Everything ive read about these chickens says they are supposed to start laying eggs around 6 months of age. Yet, my second batch of chickens started laying at around 5 months and these last pullets began laying at 4.5 months. I am not complaining. I think its great. I just wasnt ready for it. It wasnt even on the radar yet. Because the pullets had respiratory issues i couldnt put them in the pen with the adult chickens, even though they had grown large enough, because they were contagious. I treated them in the house with the idea that i would hold onto them and make sure they were well before integrating. Well, the timeline got rushed a bit when i heard egg laying noises coming from the pullet pen one afternoon and to my surprise, an hour later, i noticed a tiny egg in the shavings when i went in there to brush my teeth. I quickly snatched the egg up before anyone could step on it or smash it. It was indeed an egg. Someone had hit puberty and laid an egg in there.
Over the next week all 3 other chickens began laying teeny tiny eggs. It turned out there was one laying cream eggs and 3 laying rosy brown eggs. It was getting harder to make sure none of them got stepped on and so i began looking at how to logistically move them into the big pen; integration. I didnt want them to step on the egg, realize the contents were tasty, and then have 4 egg eating pullets on my hands. There were no nesting boxes in the stock tank in my bathroom. They had to go outside.
One afternoon i finished work early. The weather was warm and sunny. I put the chicken tractor next to the adult chicken pen. I put the pullets in it. I let them stare at each other for a few hours. Then i just did it. I ripped the band aid off. I grabbed the pullets two at a time (so i was not throwing the first pullet to the wolves without back-up) and placed them in the pen with the adult chickens. After all 4 pullets were in i locked the door and stepped back. The chickens didnt realize anyone new was standing beside them at first. I mean, they all pretty much look alike. However, the pullets behavior differed from the confidence of the adult chickens and they soon gave themselves away. Oakley and Ellis were a middle group…not part of the original 5 hens. They had neither the status nor the desire to bully the newbies. However, Daisy, Rosie, and Lily made it known that they did not order any newcomers and they were not happy about the intrusion. They pecked and chased the new pullets to no end. I let it go on for a little bit but if it looked like one chicken was really honing in on a pullet or just all the pullets mercilessly for an extended period i began shouting at the chicken, “knock it off!” And kicking at the pen in the direction of said chicken. If she did not stop her pursuit i got in the pen and physically separated them. I did not swat or physically discipline the chicken though, because i didnt want to impede the chickens from establishing their natural pecking order. I needed to allow them to make the pullets fear them or i would end up with one of the pullets in charge of my flock with no experience. I wanted to prevent bloodshed without impeding the natural establishment of a hierarchy amongst the chickens in the flock. They bullied them pretty hard for a couple hours while i mediated from the outside of the pen when necessary. There is a tunnel to the left of the chicken coop against a tarped pen wall that is too small for the full grown chickens to fit into. The pullets hide there whenever they can. On the first day of integration night fell and the adult chickens went inside the coop. The pullets slept outside in the pen. This is how they will likely exist for the next few months. Ellis and Oakley slept outside for a good 5 months before the flock let them in the coop and it was another 6 months before they were allowed to graduate from the floor to the nesting boxes and from the nesting boxes to the roosting bar. The adult chickens are mean and nasty to the pullets. They chase them and jab them with their beaks whenever they feel like it. They keep them from the food dispenser so i always lay feed on the ground for them at night when the chickens have gone to bed and they eat it from the ground as the sun sets just like i used to do for ellis and oakley when they first integrated into the flock. Right now none of my adult hens are laying eggs. I dont know if they are heading into a molt or hitting menopause but i dont care. I told them as day old chicks that they could stay here as garbage disposals after they hit chicken menopause and couldnt lay eggs. They will have a home here until the end of their lives. I dont believe in killing something that served me so well for years just because it isnt serving me anymore. There will always be uses for them beyond eggs. They get rid of trash and make excellent fertilizer for plants.
The chickens and pullets are fully integrated now. They live together. It will take months for them to make it in the coop but thats why i built it in a heavy duty dog kennel with buried fencing and a rock wall. They can sleep outside for a while. Someone asked me if i could just take the pullets back out if they didnt get along. The answer is no. Once you integrate the chickens and pullets its sink or swim. If they are pecking at them and i remove them they’ve learned that all they have to do to get the pullets removed from their pen is beat them up, which they will now do more often. The pullets cant live in the bathroom indefinitely. There is no try number 2. It either works or it doesnt but nobody goes back inside the house. I treat the whole flock for respiratory issues nightly now by laying out an evening salad of mint, thyme, pepper seeds, and respiratory powder. I will monitor for signs of distress but so far everyone appears healthy. The stock tank is back in the shed and i am very relieved that i do not have to clean it every weekend and make the pullets their own food and water. They just eat and drink with the chickens now. At last…i have my bathroom back. 3 feet of space has never looked so big!!! I can pee with my legs facing forwards instead of to the side and nobody is squawking while i take my shower. I also dont have to pick baby feather fluff off of the toothpaste tube before brushing my teeth.