Adding chicks

[KI Patti]

So i'm very new to all this - forgive me if this has been answered before but i couldn't find anything specific to my situation.

Just last Friday (so <1 week) we got our 3 chicks - they hatched 3 Aug, making them just over 5 weeks. They're pretty feathered and had outgrown the small dog pen the original owner had them in, so they went right to our coop/pen. (We're in MD so 70s at night, 80s during the day still.) They seem to be pretty darn happy and already put themselves in the coop at dusk! Clearly i'm raising brilliant chickens, lol. Now if only they'd all turn out to be hens...

Today, i have 2 black australorps coming from McMurray hatchery. They're supposed to be 4 week olds, but i guess can be 4-9 weeks? Not sure about that. At any rate, will they be ok if i just toss them all together? The coop is made for 6-8 birds and the run is 4'x8' so there's enough room (for now). I just don't want any chicken angst. But I also don't really have anywhere else to put them. We're in suburbia, not the country, altho it's a very nature friendly place.

Thoughts?

 

[aart]

What are the dimensions of your coop "made for 6-8 birds"?
Pics help too.
Pre-made coops are very often woefully undersized.

Because your birds are one week into their territory, they will not likely welcome any new birds without some fighting.



Here's some notes I've taken on integration that I found to be very helpful.......
......take what applies or might help and ignore the rest.
See if any of them, or the links provided at the bottom, might offer some tips that will assist you in your situation:

Integration of new chickens into flock.

Consider medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
Poultry Biosecurity
BYC 'medical quarantine' search

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact. Integrating new birds of equal size works best.

For smaller chicks I used a large wire dog crate right in the coop for the smallers. I removed the crate door and put up a piece of wire fencing over the opening and bent up one corner just enough for the smallers to fit thru but the biggers could not. Feed and water inside the crate for the smallers. Make sure the smallers know how to get in and out of the crate opening before exposing them to the olders. this worked out great for me, by the time the crate was too small for the them to roost in there(about 3 weeks), they had pretty much integrated themselves to the olders.

If you have too many smallers to fit in a crate you can partition off part of the coop with a wire wall and make the same openings for smallers escape.


The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide out of line of sight and/or up and away from any bully birds.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best of mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

Another option, if possible, is to put all birds in a new coop and run, this takes the territoriality issues away.

Read up on integration..... BYC advanced search>titles only>integration
This is good place to start reading:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

 

[KI Patti]

I ended up setting up the dog crate next to the run - hopefully that helps. One of the 5 week olds pecks at them thru 2 layers of fence.

Thanks for your help! I'll post pics when I can figure out how.

 

[Peeps61]

It they are close in size and age, give them a week or two to get to know each other, then give it a try. If you can free range them any, it's usually more peaceful to put them together that way, making sure the junior flock has plenty of places to hide from the original chicks that you had.

Once they are used to each other, they'll work out the pecking order and then they'll integrate.

 

[KI Patti]

Here's a pic, altho not the best, it was gray and rainy and I just wanted to get done before dark!

Anyway, they have a proper feeder and waterer now - bought bigger ones for the main coop and gave them the "baby" ones. They huddle together in the blue bird house at night (my 10 yr old build it). It is covered and there's a thick towel in the back and boards along the sides to block some of the cool air/wet weather than we've been having.

Should i put them together at all, supervised? The age difference is only about a week to week and a half.

 

[Mrs. K]

Give it a week, then set it up so that there are a couple of hideouts in the run, but not traps. There needs to be an exit on both ends. Might be a scuffle or two, but if not blood, leave them alone. Each time you rescue, you have to start over.

I do not see you having real trouble now, and I can't see your whole set up but 5 adult birds will take up more space than chicks. So in 4 months from now you will need a coop situation that is about 20 square feet or about 4 feet x 5 feet. And a run that is about 50 square feet. Measure what you have now, don't guess.

Most of chicken problems come from too many birds in too small of space, and they can be horrible problems.

Mrs K