No more crazy than am I. The ONLY reason I didn't buy chicks at the feed store this past trip for feed and oyster shell was because I have six newly hatched chicks in the brooder and 7 more eggs in an incubator. PLUS two more sets of six eggs to be shipped to me.
And I've bid on some hatching eggs.....
But the way you eventually add them to your flock is this:
They'll be in the brooder til they're about 8 weeks old. Thereabouts. Fully feathered.
Then you have some place to put them separate from the rest of the flock, either in half the coop, or in another "grow out" coop thing. If it's the latter, this will be inside the regular run you've already got, put a temporary run fence around it for a little yard for them alone, and their own feeder and waterer.
Let them grow "out" there until they are 12 or 16 weeks old, whichever you feel is closest to the size of the original flock or by their behavior as they mature. They will be able to see, hear, smell and even chest bump through the temporary fence with the others. So by the time you take away the temporary fence, the older ones will already be used to them, know they aren't "strangers" and there will be much less pecking order bother. The younger ones will be lower status, but the older ones won't attack them.
Good luck!
flock?
