Unless a hen in your BLRW flock is very broody, no hen will take the chicks under her wing. Even if a hen was brooding, it would be very doubtful she would do so with these chicks as they are too old at 5 weeks...most hens would be fledging the chicks by that age..."kicking" them out to be on their own. This generally happens sometime between 4 and 6 weeks of age.So I'm pretty new to all this but I have a flock of BLRW. I bought 18 EE chicks from someone who had ordered too many. They are 5 weeks old now and I have them inside under a lamp. How do I introduce them? Will a hen take them in under her wing as her own or will they fight them away? And at what age can they go outside? The BLRW flock I got when they were all a year old already so I skipped the chick part of raising
At 5 weeks, they are barely feathered in fully. Also note that EE's take a bit longer to mature, so you don't want to rush it. With 5 week old chicks, you first obviously need to wean them off the heat lighting, and since it is the middle of winter, that will take some time as you have to raise the lamp in increments until they are accustomed to the outdoor temps...both daytime and nighttime....they might not be ready until 12 weeks of age depending upon where you live.
Further, your BLRW flock, being an established flock for some time, will view the younger chicks/pullets as intruders, and there will be scuffling for pecking order. How extreme depends upon the personalities of the BLRW in your flock and how laid back they are, and how assertive the EE's are. You have numbers working for you in that the EE's are a fairly large number and will stick together creating safety for the younger birds...but that could also create quite a free-for-all in the pecking order until everyone recognizes their position in the flock.
What I see happening when I introduce new pullets is that they stick together as a sub-flock for weeks, making a real effort to stay out of the path of the bigger/older birds. You will need to have cubby holes and hiding places so that the younger ones can find a safe place to tuck away in if a hen (or roo) is really upset with them. I've seen higher-order hens pen the younger pullets into a corner and not let them come out for some time, often causing them to become deprived of food and water. Usually it is a lower pecking order hen that hazes the newbie the hardest as they don't want to fall lower in the pecking order.
You don't mention how many roosters you have, but you will have to watch that number as well. Your head rooster may not take kindly to younger roosters in his territory....likely as long as they stay quiet and out of his way, things will be okay, but things can heat up. Too many roos is not a good thing.
You will need to integrate slowly and at an age where the younger birds can handle the transition better. For transitioning groups of birds that are strangers to each other, I recommend the youngest be at least 12 weeks of age....I do better at 16 weeks of age...nearly laying age as the young non-laying pullets are always hazed by the older laying hens.
To help with integration, after the chicks are old enough to weather the environment, let the two flocks get to see each other through a wire divider for at least a week. twp being better. Then let them free range together during the day in a place that has lots of wing-space so that nobody is too crowded. Everyone goes back to their normal roosting place. At this point you can choose whether or not you want to have separate roosting areas permanently (since it sounds like you have two fairly large flocks...1 of BLRW and 1 of EE's) or if you want them all in one coop depending upon the size of your coop as 18 would be quite the upgrade. If you want them in one coop, after they've free-ranged together for at least 2 weeks, a month being better, place the new members in the BLRW coop at night. Usually by the next morning, the flock is used to seeing them and the scuffles and pen downs are limited.
At all times during the transition keep an eye out for trouble in case somebody is being overly hazed. Also keep plenty of feeding and water stations available that are across the yard and out of sight of each other, that way aggressive hens can't keep younger birds from eating or drinking at the favored spot.
It may take several months for the two flocks to become one integrated flock....and amazingly, you will see that "birds of a feather do flock together" as the breeds will often seek each other out and stick together...definitely hatch mates will.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Lady of McCamley
EDITED TO ADD: I gave you the dynamics for a smaller, backyard flock. In larger flocks, of over 50(?)...or it may have been a much larger number like 100, I've read that the flock dynamics changes quite a bit and the birds become much calmer as nobody has a sense of position in the flock general. I have not witnessed that as I don't own that many birds, and I do find it hard to imagine that "clicks" and "gangs" don't form...but that is what I've read and add to the information in case you are getting into larger flock dynamics...assuming the "18" count for EE's wasn't a typo.
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