At what age can you incorperate chicks with the other hens. NO ROOSTER

[mkrassin]

I have eight week old chicks at what age can i encorerate them with the adult birds. I have 24 chicks and 6 adult hens. I would appreciate some expert advise. Mkrassin

 

[lceh]

Well, we put our 8-week-olds out today with the rest of the flock. The key is to make sure you are introducing a whole bunch of new birds at once, not just one or two who might be targets for the adult birds. If you're putting 20 babies out there with just a few adults they should be fine -- the adults will be so overwhelmed by all the new birds that they probably won't gang up on any one in particular. There will be some pecking though, as the dominant birds demonstrate their rank in the flock Just be sure there's somewhere for the youngsters to go to get away if the squabbling gets too intense.