How old to add new chicks to existing flock?

photo chick

Songster
10 Years
May 4, 2009
109
1
121
Essex, VT
I want more chickens but I don't want chicks. I'm just not in the mind set to keep them inside and warm right now. I was hoping to just add 2 chicks to my existing flock of 6. Is it reasonable to think that at some point I could do that? I have done no research so please set me straight on this. I have a neighbor who has over 100 chicks ranging from a few days old to 6 weeks old. He has some very unique breeds. Is it possible to add a couple of 6 week old chicks to my coop? My girls are very docile but have never met other chicks besides themselves. They are a year old.
 
There have been a few threads on this subject lately, and the consensus seems to be that you need to wait until the pullets are almost the same size as you adult hens, around 16 weeks.
 
Bummer - I just don't want to do the inside thing this summer. We originally kept our girls in our downstairs bathroom. If I were to add them to the flock, would I need to keep them fully separated or only when they are inside? Sorry if this seems like a silly question. I have tried to do a "search" but apparently didn't use the right key words.
 
I used a wire dog kennel inside the coop to integrate. It wasn't easy, but after 3 weeks they were fully integrated! It's best to introduce when both flocks are roughly the same size. I kept a very close eye on them and I never allowed bullying. The dog kennel worked wonders.
 
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Very similar to what I do. You can either use a cage/kennel, or partition off (with chicken wire) a section of your coop for the youngsters. After a few weeks of seeing each other, everyone gets used to each other. Then when the youngsters are released, the older birds consider them "old business" and don't pay much attention to them. LOL Of course the older ones will set them straight on the pecking order, but they won't chase them down to kill them or anything vicious like that.
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I have 16 12-13 week olds and 3 2 week olds. I figured I would be keeping the little ones separate for a while yet...They are inside in a large cage, I suppose I will just put that cage inside the coop when they are feathered out and let them all adjust to each other...I was trying for some EE pullets and of course the 3 I got, were all roos, so I purchased 3 more, pullets this time, now they have to play catch up!
 
I used a wire dog kennel inside the coop to integrate. It wasn't easy, but after 3 weeks they were fully integrated! It's best to introduce when both flocks are roughly the same size. I kept a very close eye on them and I never allowed bullying. The dog kennel worked wonders.
 
I have (5) 13 week olds & (7) 7 week olds that I intergrated. I also used a dog kennel for a couple weeks so they could get use to each other. Right now I have (2) 4 week olds in the same dog kennel that I used for the 7 week old chicks. It will probably still be a long time before I can actually put them with the others. But we really did not want to keep them inside any longer.
 

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