Adding 2 new chicks.

[conklinator]

When I put together my flock, I really wanted 2 welsummers, but they were out of stock until this coming week. Now I have 8 other hens, ranging from 2 to 4 weeks old. The 4 week old hens are blue wheatens, and starting to get pretty big. The rest are still fairly small. Will I have issues if I try to add 2 little welsummers to the mix? Would it be better to do it now, while most of them are small, or should I try to wait until the welsummers are a bit larger?

I added 2 more ameraucanas about a week ago, and they integrated with no issues. Even the bigger hens didn't seem to mind some new girls in the brooder.


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[klohman]

Okay from my personal experience...and some may disagree...I would add them.

We bought new chicks with about the same span as yours. The lady at the store told us they were too far in age, and to keep them separate. So we did, which they obliged by for about 3 days until they started jumping the wall between the brooders. Finally, I got frustrated and took the wall down. There was a bit of tiny sized pecking order, and they got it figured out.

What I really like now, is that as we are integrated them with our older girls, they are a little bigger flock of their own. I always feel like the more birds you can add in at a time, the better chance they stand.

 

[conklinator]

Thanks for the reply. I already have a very mixed flock, and they do very well with eachother. I think I'm going to try adding 2 welsummers together, and just keep a really close eye on them for the first day or so. My suspicion is that they'll do ok, since the 2 new ones I added last week did ok.

Man... This chicken thing really is addicting...

Okay from my personal experience...and some may disagree...I would add them.

We bought new chicks with about the same span as yours. The lady at the store told us they were too far in age, and to keep them separate. So we did, which they obliged by for about 3 days until they started jumping the wall between the brooders. Finally, I got frustrated and took the wall down. There was a bit of tiny sized pecking order, and they got it figured out. 

What I really like now, is that as we are integrated them with our older girls, they are a little bigger flock of their own. I always feel like the more birds you can add in at a time, the better chance they stand.