1-2 Week Old Birds in with 10-11 Week Old Birds - Good Idea or Not?

[imthedude]

Hi all. Turns out we have a couple of boys in our flock after all. Living in the city, they will not last long, as crowing at 5:45 every morning will not be appreciated by my neighbors, or more importantly my wife.

Our local farm and ranch store has a rather large supply of chicks in the 1-2 week old range right now. I'd like to get a few more to replace the boys that will eventually go, but I don't want to setup the brooder in the house again since it is up for sale and needs to be kept tidy for showings. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to introduce these little 1-2 week old birds to the 10-week old hens in the group in hopes that one or two of them might be motherly already and take them under their wings to keep them warm, show the ropes, etc. Any thoughts? Bad idea or something worth considering?

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

NO! it is not because at 1-2 weeks they would be killed by the hens pecking order. now if you have room in your coop what you could do is this see but don't touch method which simply means fenceing off an area in the coop the hens can see them but can't touch them this way they will be used to seeing them until they are ready to be with the hens.

Or you could get a rubbermade create and make a new brooder out of that or a really tall box there is all kinds of things that you can use to make a new brooder out of but you should never have sold your other brooder belive me chickens are very addictive you will need it lol you say you want to replace the boys in your flock now but you will tell the wife that you want enough hens to have a dozen of eggs a day or in case these get sick trust me you may say no now but you will see look down at my SIG I started with the 5 BR's and the RIR and now look at what I have all within the last 3 months lol.
I brrod one set out and go get another set, Brood them out and got another set, at last count I now have three sets brooded out from the same brooder......

Good luck to you

 

[KKatknap]

I would have to agree - not a good idea.

Both of the above ideas are good, but putting them all together right away would be potentially deadly to the little ones.

 

[triggfamily5]

I have my 2 week olds "fenced off" from my 5-6 week olds, and I tried "integrating" yesterday which was a NO GO!! Those big ones are jealous and mean. They stepped on them, squished them, and pecked. The poor babies were screaming with terror (though they love to watch the big ones antics through the fence with watermelon and worms)

I sat and watched for almost 2 hours afterwards (quietly so they didn't know I was in the room) and was amazed at the pecking order already established between the hens (and the 4 roosters....hmmm)

 

[kittykorat]

I don't think it is the brooder for sale- Is it the house for sale?
Definetely NOT a good idea!
I have 3 wk olds, just got a couple day olds.. I divided the brooder. The 3 wk olds are 3x the size of the day olds.

 

[imthedude]

yep house is for sale, not the brooder. thanks for the advice all. will have to think of something else since i can't have the new chickies inside and it's not yet warm enough in our part of the country for 2 week old chicks to be outside at all.