5 weeks old!

[lovinthechickens]

yay! my little ones are 5 weeks old!

I was wondering... When should i start them on layer feed?
when i do, do i slowly introduce it or just change it straight away?

thanks

 

[shelleyb1969]

You don't need to start them on layer feed until they start to lay, which is around 20 weeks.

 

[lovinthechickens]

Oh, ok. So keep them on starter till then? How will i integrate them?

 

[jossanne]

There is an in-between feed for when they hit 6 weeks - grower feed.

How old are the chickens you want to integrate them with? I integrated my babies at about 4 weeks (I think, can't remember now). The older ones were 4 months old. I put the babies in a wire dog kennel inside the hen house and they stayed in it for a week or so. Then I let the babies out, watched carefully to make sure the older girls weren't going to hurt them, and ta-da!! They were integrated.

 

[lovinthechickens]

Quote:
All of the other chickens are full grown... Will they try to hurt my chicks?

How old will they be when they can defend themselfs?

 

[Shared Acres]

I got one of those plastic shoe box type of containers and made a hole on the side of it big enough for my silkie babies to get in, but not hens and whenever mine felt threatened they just ran in there.

For the first couple of days I put food and water in it as well, just in case.

 

[lovinthechickens]

Quote:
Thats a great idea!
Im going to try that today. Thanks volume904!

 

[Teresaann24]

Thanks for that info..I was wanting to add 3 5 week old with momma hen and a roo but I don't have the time to build a cage inside the run to intigrate them and wait a week so Im gonna add somthing that the lil ones can hide from the roo id needed. Thanks I'll be doing this tomorrow also!