Adding 4 weeks olds to my one year old flock

megwidmer

In the Brooder
6 Years
Apr 19, 2013
17
0
24
Colorado
Hello!
I've read many threads in introducing new chicks to the flock. In the end we are ready to get these little ones out of the brooder in our mud room and into the coop/run. The 10 chicks are just four weeks old and the existing flock contains four hens and one rooster.
I began bringing the littlest to range outside the existing run 2 weeks ago. They've all seen and pecked at each other from between the wire.
Today I just put them all in the coop with the girls and after about 30 minutes added the rooster. The little one s stick together and have places to hide. A couple pecks here and there from the older birds but otherwise nobody seems to mind... They've been together for several hours now.
I guess I'm looking to find out if anyone has introduced their chicks so young (without a broody mama) and been fine with it. I'm ready to say goodbye to the brooder...
Thanks, meg
 
OK here is my opinion:

It will be a miracle if they don't kill them at that age. They will likely keep them from eating enough as well.

Solution:
Divide coop if possible with some chicken wire and just keep them in that enclosure until older. Yes they will be living indoors but you can give them some 1 inch grass clippings to help with some vitamins along with their feed of course, and they will be safe. The nice thing about that is, when you are ready to release them, the older ones will be more accepting of a new group in the coop most likely and the babies will recognize the coop as home.

The optimal time to integrate chicks with adults is about 16 weeks of age. You may be able to get away with it a bit earlier but there is the risk of injury and death.

I know things look great right now but adult chickens can be vicious to babies even the next day or the next week after integration and the babies really don't stand up for themselves enough.

I had some 8-10 week olds in with my adults not too long ago and they ripped the neck skin off one of my pullets. Fortunately it has healed (Blu Kote on it and chickens have amazing regenerative powers!) and I reintegrated them a few weeks later with success. I had to as I was losing chickens every day to an owl and needed to get them moved due to the way my pen was set up - it was too confusing for the babies to find their way home. I was planning of course to wait until a bit later than that because of the pullet with the ripped neck.

So I am not trying to be the cautious voice to be a stick in the mud LOL - I have seen bad things happen and chicks almost killed - so let me tell you how it happens:

A chick gets cornered by itself. It tries to escape but is cornered somehow by one or two hens. The hens start pecking the baby. The baby hides his face in the corner or the fencing and the hens keep viciously pecking it. Then more hens show up and they all start attacking it. This will likely end in death if the chick isn't rescued.

This can occur at any time, even though things seem peaceful now. That is what I needed to tell you- if you have never seen this- it is a heart-wrenching experience.
 
We were definitely having a honeymoon phase when I wrote original post. Everything was still fine, luckily, but I did go ahead and separate them all again.
I had read all the threads I could, but none addressed any success or failure with an earlier integration, so thank you very much for just laying it out for me.
I need to be more patient with how long the babes need to be in their own space. I'm still optimistic that they will all integrate well when they are ready.
Thanks again! Meg
 
Update- the babies are now 9 weeks old and my! How they've grown! I kept them apart again until 6-7 weeks and then worked them into the run inside their own brooder (repurposed dog kennel), then out a few hours a day with big birds and obstacle courses of laundry baskets and such to give them places to hide. The evening When I went out to close them in their respective beds and found all ten littlest up on the roost in the henhouse with everyone else is when I decided they were good enough for me. The little ones are big enough and fast enough to get away from the only hen who still bothers to bully them. The rooster doesn't typically pay them much attention but he did try to nip at me when I was reaching toward one of the buffs the other day. I took this to be a good sign that he is watching out for the babes- even though my rooster is a jerk.
 
It can work to integrate young without a broody hen, some folks swear that 8 weeks is the only age to integrate, but most often it doesn't.
There are a lot of factors involved, common sense in the keeper being the most important.

You did the research used the ideas you found and figured out what would work for your flock.
Congrats on your success!
 
Thanks- I'm aware that they are still on the young end of what the majority reports to work for integration- and I can definitely see how different size flocks, bird temperaments, ages, flock keeper techniques, etc would affect this experiment.
I hope this thread will help other impatient chick keepers like me... Everything and everyone on BYC has been so helpful
To me so far.
 

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