Adding yet ANOTHER chick?! Question!

[jenkassai]

Sooo...hubby made the mistake yesterday of saying he thought it might be interesting to have a red colored chicken mixed in with my variety of what will be black, black and white and white with black. That was all I needed to hear, sounded like he was basically giving permission to get another chick, or is that just my interpretation?

Anyways, I found a local person with some Speckled Sussex chicks, 6 days old. Sounds like an interesting breed, and I think they are pretty. If hubby likes how they look I am all for getting one or two. My question is...would I need to quarantine it/them from my current "flock" (can you call them a flock when they are babies?!) of 2 and 3 week olds? I don't know that I have the space for that. And if I did need to quarantine, for how long?

Thx!

 

[TwoCrows]

If you are getting one or two from a reputable breeder, then I wouldn't quarantine such a small chick from the others. Look it/them over, and if you think it is healthy, comes from a healthy place, then I would mix it in. If you wait too long with chicks, then THEY become difficult to mix together due to the pecking order, which begins to form around 2 or 3 weeks old. And keeping a lone chick is never a good idea. So I would go ahead and mix them.

 

[Nicole01]

Yes, keep them separated for a month before introducing. You don't want to chance getting the others sick. I love my speckled Sussex. She is a very sweet girl.