A few at a time, or all at once?

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

I have 10 chicks in the brooder. They only range in age from 8 to 10 weeks, however, some are MUCH larger than the others. My Marans cockerel is easily almost as large as my EE hens, while the two Polish chicks are still quite small by comparison.

Right now, I've got them in the brooder box at night. During the day, they are out in a tractor while the big girls free range. The Marans cockerel has been posturing and squabbling a bit with the hens through the chicken wire, but the others have had no issues. They've been getting to know one another through the chicken wire for about 3 weeks now.

It seems to me that the bigger chicks, the older Marans and Wyandottes, are easily ready to go up to the coop. But I'm not so sure about the little ones. What do you think would be best - wait until they are all ready and put them up at once, or introduce a few of the bigger chicks now and wait on the smaller?

Thanks!

 

[gryeyes]

I would wait until they are ALL ready to be integrated. Otherwise, you'll have the pecking order process start ALL OVER AGAIN when you introduce more chicks.

 

[SmartyChick]

Quote:
Ditto there is only one smilie to interpret my feeling about integration:

Just go through the frustration once.

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

Sigh. That's what I was thinking, too. It's just starting to get a bit crowded in the brooder. They've only got 1.6 sq. ft. each.

I suppose they only spend their nights in there - and they have 3.2 sq. ft. each in the tractor. So long as it's not raining!