When to start introducing new chicks to the adult girls???

I have 4 golden comet hens that are will be 2yrs old in August. I now have 6 barred rock chicks that are 1 week old and would like some input on when to introduce them to the others. I live in New Hampshire.

Thanks,
Ken

It depends on how you are introducing. It's best to start around 8-14 weeks though.

I'm a chicken newbie, but just thought I'd share my recent experience.

I was just forced to let my 5 weekers out with my 10 weekers. They had seen each other through the fence for about 3 weeks, which I think was especially helpful. They keep their distance from the big girls and are so freakin' quick, if someone decides to take a peck, they're already halfway across the pen. Thankfully they are all doing well!

It was a first for me though, so it was a little nervewracking!

dhrace2000 said:

I have 4 golden comet hens that are will be 2yrs old in August. I now have 6 barred rock chicks that are 1 week old and would like some input on when to introduce them to the others. I live in New Hampshire.

Thanks,
Ken

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Around 2 months.wait until fully feathered.It depends on how you wanna do it.I do not think putting 1 week old chicks with 2 year old hens is all that good,but you can try.I say this because chicks are gonna need a heat lamp and different meds.Like the poultry chick stuff in the small blue packages.I wouldn't mix it with both waters.You would get this medicine in the eggs,and you would be eating it.Its not a bad thing its just im sure TOO much is bad.Plus,if these hens wanted to,they could kill those chicks.They may even catch a sickness from other chicken poop.The medicine you give them is for that.I'd introduce them threw pen.Also let them free range with each other.Also the chicks eat different type food from the big hens.You should be giving them this med stuff,but if you don't its ok I guess.Good luck on the chicks!

mama2molly said:

I'm a chicken newbie, but just thought I'd share my recent experience.

I was just forced to let my 5 weekers out with my 10 weekers. They had seen each other through the fence for about 3 weeks, which I think was especially helpful. They keep their distance from the big girls and are so freakin' quick, if someone decides to take a peck, they're already halfway across the pen. Thankfully they are all doing well!

It was a first for me though, so it was a little nervewracking!

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pecking order probably.Hens often kill chicks no matter if their fast or not.If they get a hold of 1 they will kill.Mothers do not kill chicks.Only those chicks that are new not raised from the mom you know.

They all seem to be fine, then. No excessive aggression and certainly no kill behavior, thank goodness.

mama2molly said:

They all seem to be fine, then. No excessive aggression and certainly no kill behavior, thank goodness.

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Good.Some times hens just set a pecking order stance.

I have the same question with some of mine(sorry to butt in). I have 3 7-8 wk old chicks and I just bought a 3.5-4 month old pullet and a 6 wk old cockerel. I would like to put them all into the big coop with a run, but I'm a bit unsure because the new ones are a considerable amount bigger than mine. I have two coops but the smaller one doesn't have a good area for them to get in the grass like they should be. Any thoughts?

If you have 5 week olds and 10 week olds you shouldn't have too much problems, you essentially have 2 groups of different aged chicks. I have problems when introducing a batch of chicks to full grown chickens in their chicken coop where they already have an established pecking order. I find it problematic to do it too young, I have now built a wire wall to divide my coop in half so the chicks are safe until they are much larger. Last time I tried it with my 8-10 week old chicks, I ended up having to kill one that was so badly maimed it was dying anyways and another ended up in the house in the chicken hospital (dog crate) for a few weeks as it's wing was healing up from being badly pecked.

The problem I find is the chicks need to be big enough to either fight back or have the nerve to fly up or run away from the attackers, when too young the chicks will be dumb and just pile up in a corner when they're scared rather than avoiding the attacker, well that leads to dead chicks if you have a hen that is set on pecking them, and once you have blood you are likely to have many more of the hens join in.

It is best to wall them off so they can be near each other without getting at each other, if you can't do that wait as long as you can to get the chicks grown up enough to evade and defend themselves.

Thanks for the responses, not gonna introduce them for awhile but gonna move them outdoors after 2-3 weeks. They are growing like weeds. I will have a separate area for the chicks from the adults.

Ken