Adding day-old chicks to brooder with two-week old chicks

[smudgetool]

Hi,

I got two chicks 2 weeks ago and am ready to add 4 more day-old chicks to the brooder. What is the best way to do this? Should I let the new checks get acclimated to their new home (without the two-week chicks present) and then introduce them to the two-week old chicks? Or, should I add the new chicks directly into the brooder with the two-week old chicks already in there. I want to prevent as much bullying as possible, as the two-week old girls are already pretty set in their ways.

Thanks!

 

[MisfitMarie]

Hi,

I got two chicks 2 weeks ago and am ready to add 4 more day-old chicks to the brooder. What is the best way to do this? Should I let the new checks get acclimated to their new home (without the two-week chicks present) and then introduce them to the two-week old chicks? Or, should I add the new chicks directly into the brooder with the two-week old chicks already in there. I want to prevent as much bullying as possible, as the two-week old girls are already pretty set in their ways.

Thanks!

If you want to prevent as much bullying as possible, I wouldn't just add the chicks to the brooder at all. I would put up a separator, some sort of screen or wire, so that the babies could see each other and interact with each other without getting injured.

Two weeks is the very maximum that I, personally, would want to mix in the same brooder. I've done it before with great results, but only after keeping the babies separated with wire for about five days. Even then, I supervised them to make sure the little ones were still getting food and water. Luckily, the older chicks were bantams, so it wasn't long before everyone was about the same size.

Two weeks is a big difference in the baby chick world. Babies only a few days old are quite small and badly-coordinated compared to older babies.

Small, cheap totes make great brooders. You can set everything up just right so that two brooders can share a heat lamp, just make sure you have extra thermometers in there to check everything. It's always better to be safe than sorry with the little babies.