Integrating 2 hens into a larger, younger mixed flock - are they ready?

General Question

Hi all, I'm a new chicken & turkey owner. I started with a flock of 5 chicks in April and of them we ended up with 2 roos and 3 hens who are now 18 weeks. Long story short, I culled the aggressive rooster over the weekend and was very happy with how it went. I thought I did everything right as far as having a bucket to catch the blood and put entrails into and wow he was delicious. But that evening a fox got the second rooster, and one hen is still missing and I'm assuming she was caught as well :( Could be a coincidence and we're in 10 acres of woods and have seen tracks and scat, but I haven't seen a predator before. I'm truly devastated and was out in the woods til 10 PM looking for any signs of the missing hen (I ran out as soon as I heard squawking, saw the fox trotting off, and found the rooster dead after following a feather trail). I've been through the woods every day since and haven't even found a single feather from the hen but she also hasn't come home. So I'm down to just 2 hens in my OG flock and I'm obsessed with these girls, they are the sweetest angel chickens ever and I cannot have anything happen to them.

I would like to integrate them into the younger flock of 3 turkey poults, 7 pullets, and 1 cockerel, all about 12 weeks old, asap so that they have more friends and have the protection of the turkeys and cockerel. I wasn't able to integrate the flocks until I culled the aggressive rooster because he went after the younger ones any time he had the chance. They have been cooped side by side for 6 weeks though and are not strangers, and they have had the chance to be out together for an hour daily but with a lot of intervention because of the problem rooster. After the attack I kept everyone in their runs for a day, then over the last 2 days the birds have all been out free roaming together from 7 AM-4 PM and it's gone great. I'm home all day so I was able to supervise and watch their behavior. The turkeys have been raised with chickens and look after their chicken friends, and they are curious and sweet with the 2 older hens. They learned fast that running up to them made them flee and they seem to want to be around them. Same with the younger chickens, the cockerel especially wants to herd the older girls into his flock and has learned to approach slowly and has shown no aggression at all. He's a sweet boy not only to the birds but with us. The pullets are all totally fine as expected, and the older hens haven't picked on the little ones at all. All of these birds are incredibly sweet, run to us when we're outside, and love to be picked up and petted, and now that the 2 older roos are gone, I'm really confident I can have one large peaceful flock.

So my plan is to put the 2 older hens in with the babies tonight before dusk in the run together, and as long as that goes well, to coop them together tonight. The younger flock has a large shed type coop and walk-in run with a 20 bird capacity. They have lots of roosting bars, all on the same level so no one gets pooped on, and I know these birds temperaments and they all just go in and roost and sleep all night.

Is there anything I'm missing or should be concerned about? Should I check them before I go to bed to make sure everyone is good, or would that just wake them up and potentially cause a problem?

Posted Jul 29, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC

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