Over the past week I have been bringing my new laying chicks outside and putting them into the run with my two year old hens. They were not happy about having them around but overall left them alone. After a week of exposure I brought them out first thing in the morning before I let the old birds out of the coop and let them see each other at feeding time. The hens were fairly calm a little pecking order dominance displayed at feeding time, as I would expect, and would walk away and let the chicks eat. Since this was a success, I next cooped them up together at night day one went well, protest from the hens in the form of being noisy but left the chicks alone. Releasing them in the morning had pecking order dominance but was smooth. That night the hens would chase the chicks off the ladder to to coop so I placed them in without protest from the hens. This morning will be morning two and expect the same as before so I would say I mixed the flocks fairly successfully. Hopefully this will help someone else mix flocks.
