4 week old on the way, too young to join the others?

[outdoorschick91]

I just ordered a 4 week old silver-laced wyandotte chick from Mc Murray Hatchery. At the moment I already have two 10 week old buff orpingtons and one 14 week old golden buff. It has been in the 80's and 90's here in Rhode Island so I don't think it is chilly out at all. They have a big enough coop and run where I don't think space will be too much of an issue. Will my 4 week old be safe with the other chickens?
Also I have never bought a live animal online so I hope that turns our alright, fingers crossed!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Are you going to quarantine the new chick at all?
So far as putting it straight in the coop with the other three, that is a pretty big age and size difference, I would try to set something up where the new chick is separated from the others until it is closer to their size. Temperature wise you should be fine.
I have bought a lot of day-olds from McMurray, and have been quite happy with them as a hatchery, their customer service is great.

 

[KrazyChromatics]

i throw my chicks around my pens a lot, and sometimes the real little one and two week olds think its a good idea to play with the big birds... so far i haven't had an issue but usually im putting in groups of 10 or more and they tend to huddle up together and slowly they will mingle with the big birds, but i have a lot of birds and im always switching up the pens moving from brooder to grow out, from there they either go into the main pen, (i try to do groups of 5, but singles work so long as they can get away) or they go into one of 2 "reject" pens, sounds meaner than it is lol, the coop birds then make one last stop into the coop in groups of 10 or more for safety (ive found red birds to be really aggressive) the others in my pen are up for sale until the day they are culled or i get attached and keep them till they become a problem lol .... I have 3 "rebel" pens also one large 2 small, all the aggressive roosters that can tollerate eachother go together in the large pen, the other 2 are either for large roos that could hurt another in a fight, or for broodies... i like being organized lol

 

[outdoorschick91]

I just got the 4 week old today, she arrived in excellent condition. I had her in the coop for less than 2 minutes before the larger red hen tried to aggressively attack the newbie so I quickly separated them. I have a small chicken wire pen I set up inside the regular run with a bin cover covering it but the red hen still agressively stomps around the little pen, starring down the new chick, and pecking at it through the wire. The new chick has been "egging" the red hen on by fluttering around and pecking back at her.......can't we all just get along? lol. I got too nervous (especially after I just paid a bundle to have this chick shipped) so I put the chick back in the brooder I had made out of a bin until it gets big enough to not get stepped on. How old is old enough to put the new chick in with the others? Will the red hen always try to harm it or is it just because it is soooo much larger? Thanks so much for your input, it is so helpful being part of this website!!!

Here is a photo of my new Silver-Laced Wyandotte, 4 weeks old


Here is the grumpy aggressor, Big Red (15 weeks)

 

[KrazyChromatics]

im not surprised its the red hen

can you set up a pen inside their coop big enough to accommodate the one bird? try to include the perch too if you can, that way she can kinda roost with the others at night, also if you try removing the red hen and reintroducing the new bird, wait till they get settled and try again, the red hen is likely top bird... good luck, i have one sour pus in a bunch usually, and if i move them then re introduce them, they tend to do better, unless its a randy young roo, then they dont usually change until their hormones sort out, so i seperate them till they calm down and can have a more mature flock...

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

Your red hen looks like a sexlink. my sexlinks like that seem to be bullies to the other birds.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Cute little girl, she is going to be pretty. Figures it is the red head causing problems.
I would try and keep the new chick separated from the other girls until it is closer to their size, I like 8-10 weeks, but see how it goes. For now, I would try and set up a pen inside their pen or at least within their view. This will give them time to get used to each other. It is mostly just the dominant hen being unhappy about an interloper and a change in her environment, dominant hens tend not to like change, it just means more work for them to get everything back under control the way they like it, she'll get over it. Do you free range your birds at all? Might also be a little easier to get them used to each other someplace where the red one is not as much at home, at least until the little one is bigger, red would be less likely to stomp around the new ones pen if she has other things to distract her (keep the little one in a pen). Later on, I would take red out of the coop for a few days before you combine them, this will drop her status a little, you might put red in the pen the chick is in and let the chick in with the other girls if they get along. I've had quite a few red sex links over the years, and while they tend to be dominant pushy birds, they do eventually get along with everybody else, I have not found them to be really nasty birds.

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

I don't think my sexlinks are nasty, in fact some of them are my favorites

. Although all but one tend to really bully newbies more than my other birds. I show birds in local shows and a good majority of my sexlinks are mean to the other birds on the table. But they are super sweet to people.(That is why they are everyone's favorites when they come to visit.) I am truly sorry if I came across as meaning that they were nasty. I really didn't mean to.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Your four week old chick should NOT be integrated with the older hens until she is around the same size as them. They might kill her.

I would advise removing one hen (the nicest one) and placing her in the pen with your youngest chicken at around 3 months of age if that goes over well- watch them carefully. Then she will have a buddy and they can join the flock together.

The best age to integrate young chickens with older hens is 16 weeks. Chickens get so lonely by themselves though- you would be wise to put the chick where she can see the other ones and be next to them.

 

[outdoorschick91]

I tried setting up a chicken wire pen with a cover to have the small chick in the chicken run with the others. The older red hen still was upset but ignored the chick more than yesterday. I feel like this will just be something I have to wait out until the chick is 8-10 weeks old. I wish I could free range them but our neighborhood is crawling with foxes (even during the daytime) and we live on a cutthrough street so I would be too afraid one would get hit by a car. I have herd that the red sex-links can be on the bossy side with new chickens, it was bossy with my 2 smaller orpingtons at first but now they are best friends. Also the red sex link does love people, she always runs over to you when you get near the coop and follows you the whole time, very cute. I may need to use something else (like a hardware cloth) to make the chicks little pen though. This morning I caught the chick trying to stick her whole head through the hole and I didn't want her to get stuck like that with the red hen right there where she can grab the chick.

So until I make a new chick pen she only has supervised outside time. Before I released my chickens from the coop this morning I let the chick run around the run for a bit, she flew right at me and landed on my shoulder when I was crouched down, lol, I had no idea such a little chick could fly so good. My mom was risking to be late for work just to snap a picture and laugh at me, lol.

It is incredible how chickens all have such different personalities, I love them so much. It has definitely been quite a learning experience but I think it is all worth it.