Adding New Chicks to Older Chicks in Brooder

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jslason

jslason

Hatching
10 Years
Jun 10, 2009
4
0
7
Watertown CT
Hello! I am new to "chickenhood" and have a question about adding 6 newly acquired chicks (2 days old) to a brooder that is currently housing 5 chicks that are almost 2 weeks old. Can this be done without harm to the younger chicks or do I need to use a second brooder? Thanks for your help! Judy (Watertown CT)
 
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Newbie. That sounds like a good question. I'm not really the one to ask BUT I would say let the two day old get a week older so they have a better change.
 
I put chicks that are different ages in the same brooder without any problems. But I keep them seperate untill they are 4 to 5 days old. You can put them together and watch them for awhile just to be sure. If they are alot of size difference that can also be a problem too.
 
I mixed mine without any problems. I had 8 chicks that were 2 weeks old, added four 2-3 day olds a week later, added 4 more the next week and finally a week later added one more but she was the same age as the last group. I watched them for awhile but they never seemed to have any problems. That was about a month ago and all are well.
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I hope so because I have 24 in a big brooder in garage-silkies and other smaller kinds-I have 9 BO's hatching out next week-so when they get around the same size they will go in that brooder too! That or I will sneak them in With my broody BO-she's sitting on 14 eggs that are due around the same time too! Either way I hope one of those situations work or My DH will kill me if we have to build another coop!
 
Don't build another coop, just put the new chicks in a cage and place the cage in the coop. That way they can get used to each other. There might still be some pecking when you put them together but they should not be trying to do each other in. Ther is alot of info on this site for introducing new chickens; if you use the search, it can give you other tried and true stategies.
 

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