Age gap between chicks?

[millyandthechickens]

Only one chick hatched from our batch of incubated eggs so now we have a lonely little chick who needs some friends. I'm on the search for female chicks with similar age but availability is rather limited. I have found a seller with chicks that are coming up 2 weeks old and don't know if this is a good idea or not. I'm still waiting for replies from some other suppliers with hopefully younger chicks but I'm worried the longer we leave it our chick will struggle integrating with them. What is the maximum age gap for new chickens that we could have for our 3 day old chick? We were going to get two chicks but if they are older, is it riskier that they could bully and attack our chick? Thank you!

 

[Fluffy_Farm_Friends]

I’m not sure where you’re located but I’m guessing you don’t have a Tractor Supply or any thing near by selling chicks? I tend to like getting younger chicks, especially if I’m getting a greater number than what I have. In your case I would be concerned with two older chicks teaming up to bully him. I wouldn’t be too concerned with your chick having trouble integrating, I’ve never any troubles with that. Then again if the other chicks are the only thing available 2 weeks could always be worse. The chicks I have right know are 1 week apart and they’re fine.

 

[Fluffy_Farm_Friends]

Hopefully somebody has better advice than me. Reading that back I just realized how un helpful I probably was

 

[Ridgerunner]

We were going to get two chicks but if they are older, is it riskier that they could bully and attack our chick? Thank you!

I assume you used an incubator and will use a brooder. No broody hens involved.

Even if they are the same age you could have issues. Even if they are more than two weeks apart you may be fine. I once had a chick hatched by a broody hen kill it's sibling that hatched with it. They were both two weeks old when that happened. Then it tried to kill a second sibling but I caught them in time to save that chick. I've seen chicks separated by more than two weeks with no problems at all. In my opinion the individua personalities matter a whole lot more than age difference. Age differences can make a difference in how much damage a chick can do, but even at the same size and age they can kill.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, I think you have a pretty good chance of success. When you set your brooder up have a way to quickly isolate a chick if you need to. One way might be to fashion an open topped box out of hardware cloth and turn it over the chick. Make it big enough that you can put some food and water in there, with one chick it doesn't take much. Two week old chicks can jump and even fly fairly well, a fence across he brooder may not be enough. This is mainly for an emergency, in case you need something. With living animals you never know. If you need to then do a see but don't touch integration for a while.