duckynewbie
In the Brooder
- Jan 18, 2016
- 48
- 1
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Right now we have 9 hens & 1 roo that are 7 months old. We bought them from a backyard breeder who said they were australorps. Well.. they're mixed, & we really wanted full breeds. So, we ordered some full breeds, 17 pullets & 2 roos that are currently in the brooder and are about 4 weeks now. We just expanded our chicken run & have a cage inside the run for when the babies are ready to go outside, but not big enough to be put with the older ones. We figured it would be good for introducing. This cage is about 6' X 10'. I didn't realize (newbie here) until this morning that you shouldn't really put them together until the babies are about full grown at about 15 weeks. That's a long time for australorps, a bigger breed, & 19 of them to boot to be stuck in a 6' X 10' cage. We planned on selling off the older ones once the new ones started laying. Should we just avoid introducing them & sell off the new ones before moving the babies? We really didn't want to go without having eggs since we have some steady egg customers. Opinions please? What would you all do? TIA