Adding to flock

[Angiebubs]

I currently have 8 chicks that are 2-3 weeks old. (these potentially include a couple roos) I am picking up a couple chicks ( in the next week or so) that are currently 6 weeks old and am also looking to pick up a few pellets that have just started laying. Giving a total of aproc 12-15. Noone is currently in the new coop yet. What would be the best way to incorporate the three seperate groups? I understand the need to keep them seperate for a couple weeks to ensure they are all healthy before I start this. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[saladin]

You need them separate for more than a couple of weeks.

2-3 week old chicks are way to small to be placed with strange pullets. I would not integrate them until those youngest ones were quite a bit older: 16-20 weeks.


Honestly, and this is just me; please understand that.

I would never put these all together. I would never have purchased them. (I'm assuming they are coming from 3 different sources here).

You are asking for disease trouble.

If they all come from the same breeder that does make a difference. But I would have still recommended they all be about the same age.

 

[Angiebubs]

I apologize-I didnt make this clearer. My lil ones will not be going out to the coop until at least 8 weeks old. At this time, the only ones I have are my lil ones. I have a local breeder that is holding on to 2 pullets who are currently 6 weeks old. And I was hoping to get a couple of layers-from another breeder. So what I am thinking of doing is...obtain the older pullets (6 months old) and place them into the coop-watch to ensure they are healthy. Keep the 2 (currently 6 weeks old) seperate and eventually when all are old enough-add my babies and the 6 wk old ones in with the older pullets.
How do you go about adding to your flock? Do you always purchase babies only? I do understand the importance of quarinte new birds ( had a home business raising exotic birds years ago and they are a lot more sensative to diseases-usually 2 month quarentee period). I am jsut trying to figure out the best way to get a small flock going with a small variety of birds. In the spring, I would again like to add to my flock and would love any advice as to the best way to do this as well?

 

[saladin]

I'm not the person to asking about purchasing stock as I raise all my own or get adult stock to raise the future generations.

Thanks for clearing things up.

Since they are all young you can begin to integrate with around 16 weeks of age with no problems. They will have to work out the pecking order but that is normal. Make sure there is a place to run and hide if need be.

When introducing birds from different breeders there is always the possibility of death thru disease that one carries and the other is not immune too. That is why they need to be older. I hope this helps and makes sense.

 

[ErikaSmit]

I started integrating the younger ones when they had a good set of feathers on them. It really only took a couple weeks for my Roasty to adopt them as her babies.