We have 3 hens, 2 reds and 1 bantam who is currently broody. My daughter wants more chickens (maybe 2) and has a friend with many 1 week old chicks. At what age can we take them and how do we go about introducing them? We have no idea!
If those chicks were under three days old I'd say grab them now and put them under the broody at night. There is a good chance she would raise them for you. Any older and I would not try that.
You can take them at any time. What you do with them when you get them will depend on your set-up. It is springtime in Australia but how cool does it still get at night? How big, in meters or feet, is you coop? How big, in meters or feet, is your run if you have one? How many coops and runs do you have? How do they all fit together? Do you have electricity in a coop so you can brood them out there if you have room?
Your options on how to go about it are pretty endless. If they need heat you can brood them in your house until they feather out, probably at four or five weeks of age. Then integrate them. How you integrate them will depend a lot on what your set-up looks like.
If you can supply heat outside or if your nights are already warm enough you can out them in a brooder in the coop. Then at five weeks or so, depending on what your facilities look like, just turn them loose. That's what I do. Looks like Aart did that at 4 weeks. If your facilities are tight that may not work for you.
You might want to wait long enough so you can sex them before you bring them home in case you want females. How I'd suggest you integrate them after that will depend on what your facilities look like. By them weather should not matter as they should be feathered out.
You can do it at any age. How to do it depends on your circumstances.
