Giant chicks vs little chicks

[rubenalvarezjr]

Actually they're only 2 weeks apart, but boy what a size difference!!! I'm wondering if anyone has had experience integrating them together. I've attached a photo with what I've already done. On the left are the 2 week old chicks and on the right are the 2 day old chicks. In the middle is a makeshift screen I made so the little ones could have their own space for a bit. Some of these are going to other homes today, but the rest are staying. Hence my question. Thanks for your input!

 

[Folly's place]

I would wait until the littles are a week old or so at least, and they all have much more space. Then continue with separate water and feeding stations, and try to see how it works out. As you've seen, it's a big difference in size! Introducing the smaller chicks to their new digs first, so they are the residents, will also help. Then watch carefully. Mary

 

[William1hens]

I wouldn't introduce them until they're the same size.Last year I put 6 four day old chicks with 4 three week old chicks and all of the younger chicks were killed.
Good luck

 

[lazy gardener]

As soon as the littles are very mobile on their feet, introduce one or two of the bigs into the little's area. See how that goes. Keep swapping them out until all of the bigs have had a play date with the littles. Then move the divider when you can supervise. When you see that all is well, you can take it out all together.

 

[aart]

How ever you keep them separated...please put them in something bigger very soon, they need to be able to get away from the heat.

This is how I integrated chicks with a 2-4 week age difference.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.