Hello Everyone, I was wondering if I should add the day old black austrolorps to the week old easter eggers? Feed store says wait a week but I am afraid they'll be even more assertive on their space, don't know, what do you think? Their size is pretty obvious, the little BA are tiny, sweet as can be so far though. They can see me through the plastic bin and start crying, they calm when I put my hand in their and act like i am showing them the food or water. EE are much more cautious, not bad, just not as trusting as the BA. Do you think I should put them in now or wait a week? As of now, they are in their own bin with their own heat/food/water source.
I would put them together and see how it goes, as long as the older ones are not picking, and letting the younger ones eat/drink you will be fine.
I did add day olds with 1 weekers (3 are ee's) and they all did fine. I was worried about them at first. But there were no problems. I would just try it and watch them. Good luck!
Funny you should ask I just did that yesterday and watched them for a few minutes. No problems and the older ones actually showed the new chicks where the food and water was very quickly.
I routinely add babies to one, two and three week old groups. It's necessary here in spring. It's good for them to get used to accepting new members. I've never lost one to it. I keep the injured or weak separated but where they can see and be seen. The longer they're separate the more they do establish different little flocks and then there's more conflict at the meeting. I used to keep them apart for awhile til they were bigger - boy that sucked. You might lose a weak one putting them all together but sooner appears to be safer in general. Long term separation can cause individuals and groups that never get along. Ugh, lesson learned.
Yes, I would go ahead and put them together. Like others said, the longer you wait the longer it can take for them to acclimate to each other. I recently put day olds in with my 3 1/2 week olds. They all did great. The funny thing was, the 3 1/2 week olds were huddled in the corner afraid. Enjoy your chicks!
I do it all the time, but I wait till night when they are quiet and join the groups together, if I have an older one that is picking on the others I will remove that one so the others don't get any bad habbits..
I'll give it a shot, we'll see. Update it later tonight or morning, if I decided to add them at night. Rather it be during the day when I can watch them though. Its a beautiful day today, hope yours all is too!
I tried with my last batch & it didn't work out. I gave it a week and it was all fine! Just had to wait for the day olds to get a little bigger.
