brooding/housing different size chickens

[AtRendeAcres]

Not sure exactly were to post!

We will be brooding 2 bantam Silkies (2lb each), 6 Americanas (4 lb each), 5 silver laced Wyandotte’s (6lb each)- by end of week!

by the time they are grown they will be all different weights (((does this matter?)))

we are building a shed into coop this weekend putting new roof on!

would the height of nesting boxes, perches or were does a dusting box go (and do you leave it always full?)

 

[V Chic Chick]

You can keep chickens of different sizes together, and there usually aren't any problems.

As for a dustbathing box, I haven't found one to be necessary. Normally they will make one for themselves in a dryish outdoor area. Mine have theirs underneath the coop.

 

[pipermark]

My experience has been exactly the opposite. When ever I have introduced new birds into an area that contained birds, unless the new birds greatly outnumber the the existing ones, there will be some fighting going on.


I once tried putting 1 week old chicks in the same area as a hen , thinking the hen would be ok with chicks, the hen proceeded drillin for oil in the chicks head! PRoduction reds, wyandottes, buttercups, Welsumers, EE. were all the same.

Silkies, now these have been different, I put 1 week olds in the brooder with 5 week olds and the older birds just accepted them. Last night I added 1 chick into a container that had 3 chicks that had been in there for 2 days already. The 3 accepted the new comer without so much as one peck.

Very nice.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

thanks so much for sharing your experiences I will keep all this in mind!!

 

[Chickens-246]

...the hen proceeded drillin for oil in the chicks head!

This is something I'm greatly concerned about. I have Silkie chicks that are coming up on 8 weeks old. I partitioned part of the coop for them so the heavy breeds will get used to them and has been two weeks now. I test compatibility once in a while by picking the mellowest hen and bring her in with the chicks. It's not long until she starts attacking them (I intervene quickly). The heavy breeds seem to prefer to peck each other on the top of the head, a death sentence for a Silkie.

Anyone have an idea how long it takes before the hens will accept the Silkies? A Silkie death sentence is not an acceptable way to establish a pecking order.​

 

[New chicken family]

We have 6 chicks: 4 that are now 4 weeks old and 2 that are 1 week old. We got the new ones on different days. I tried to put the first new baby with the older ones but it didn't work! Even when I did it one on one! When we got the second 3 day old, they got to look at each other in the brooder for 2 days across alittle fence. I just took the fence away and watched them for about 1 hour and they are doing fine!
The older girls are in the coop in the yard and the 1 weekers are still in the brooder. I hope to put them together when the little ones are 1 month....

Our older girls are:
1 Norwegian Jaerhon (4#)
1 RIR (6.5 #)
2 Ameracaunas (5.5#)

Little ones:
1 Leghorn (4.5#)
1 Silkie (2.5#)

The first 4 get along great - we call them sisters. The most agressive bird is the baby leghorn. But now it and the Silkie are buddies!