Can 6 and 10 week old chicks live together?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Hi all. I have 3 10-week old chicks. A coworker mentioned that he is looking to rehome some of his 6-week old chicks. Could his chicks live with mine? Would they require integration? Would they need to be quarantined or anything like that? (These are his only chickens so they haven’t been exposed to any outside his flock).

I was supposed to get 6 chicks back in April, but some of the breeds I ordered didn’t do well at the hatchery and weren’t available. So while I fought the impulse and told my friend I couldn’t take anymore, now I’m sitting here trying to strategize if I could make it work. He does have Marans, which is one of the breeds I wanted…

 

[rosemarythyme]

Quarantine would be up to you... younger birds are less likely to be vectors for disease but there's always some degree of risk if you take birds from another owner.

They would need to be integrated but likely it'll be a shorter, easier integration than it would be with adults. Do you have a way of caging up the new birds or partitioning the set up to allow for an integration period?

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Quarantine would be up to you... younger birds are less likely to be vectors for disease but there's always some degree of risk if you take birds from another owner.

They would need to be integrated but likely it'll be a shorter, easier integration than it would be with adults. Do you have a way of caging up the new birds or partitioning the set up to allow for an integration period?

Thanks for replying! I don't have a great method for integrating them at this time, unfortunately. I was sort of hoping the response would be "Sure! They're young! Just throw them all in together and it'll be fine!" Haha! Based on my research and your response, that's not the case!

The challenge I'm facing with space to integrate is that I currently have my 2 year old hens in my old coop. They're going to be moving (hopefully in the next week or 2...) into the new big coop we're building. I've been integrating them with w/ my 10 week old chicks using a doggy pen, and they're now all free-ranging together (with hiding spaces for the littles since they still have their moments). But the 10 week old chicks are STILL roosting overnight in their brooder in my dining room . If I can get the 2-year olds moved, then the 10-weekers can go in their old coop, and I could repeat the integration process with the 6-weekers & the 10-weekers that I used for the other set. But... best laid plans of mice & men... these "not so little" 10 week old chicks were supposed to be out of my house last month!

I'm nervous that our building plans may be delayed, and I don't want to get in over my head with chickens in 3 different places that I don't really have room for. At their ages, would you estimate that it would take a week or 2 for integration? Or would you anticipate a longer time?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I was sort of hoping the response would be "Sure! They're young! Just throw them all in together and it'll be fine!" Haha! Based on my research and your response, that's not the case!

You *could* try that with the two sets of chicks, if you have time to supervise and watch their initial interaction, however it may or may not work. Sometimes they just magically get along and that'll make things much easier for you. But if it doesn't work you'll need another plan.

The challenge I'm facing with space to integrate is that I currently have my 2 year old hens in my old coop. They're going to be moving (hopefully in the next week or 2...) into the new big coop we're building. I've been integrating them with w/ my 10 week old chicks using a doggy pen, and they're now all free-ranging together (with hiding spaces for the littles since they still have their moments). But the 10 week old chicks are STILL roosting overnight in their brooder in my dining room . If I can get the 2-year olds moved, then the 10-weekers can go in their old coop, and I could repeat the integration process with the 6-weekers & the 10-weekers that I used for the other set. But... best laid plans of mice & men... these "not so little" 10 week old chicks were supposed to be out of my house last month!

Is there not enough space in the old coop for both the hens and 10 week olds? If there realistically isn't (and there's not some other place outdoors that they can safely spend the night like a garage or locking shed), then you're kind of stuck bringing them in at night because they need to be somewhere that's both safe and spacious enough to sleep in.

On the plus side, moving the chickens to a new coop will help shake things up - it's akin to neutral territory. If you can start introducing the 6 week olds at this time or very soon, potentially you can move all 3 age groups at the same time into the new coop as soon as it's ready. The hens won't view it as their territory the way they view their current coop as theirs.

At their ages, would you estimate that it would take a week or 2 for integration? Or would you anticipate a longer time?

For chicks to chicks, I'd think they could possibly be fully integrated within a few days, maybe a week at most. Chicks to hens can take weeks (ideally you want to wait for the hens to lose most of their interest in the chicks) before you attempt to coop them together overnight. No hard and fast rule as each flock's dynamics are different.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

You *could* try that with the two sets of chicks, if you have time to supervise and watch their initial interaction, however it may or may not work. Sometimes they just magically get along and that'll make things much easier for you. But if it doesn't work you'll need another plan.

That would be wonderful! But given my luck... haha

Is there not enough space in the old coop for both the hens and 10 week olds? If there realistically isn't (and there's not some other place outdoors that they can safely spend the night like a garage or locking shed), then you're kind of stuck bringing them in at night because they need to be somewhere that's both safe and spacious enough to sleep in.

On the plus side, moving the chickens to a new coop will help shake things up - it's akin to neutral territory. If you can start introducing the 6 week olds at this time or very soon, potentially you can move all 3 age groups at the same time into the new coop as soon as it's ready. The hens won't view it as their territory the way they view their current coop as theirs.

The older coop is not big enough for the little ones to safely escape the big girls. The last couple days they've made great strides towards the big ones ignoring the little ones, but I don't think they're ready to share a coop yet. But... I bet by the time the big coop is ready, they'll be getting along well enough to share the new coop (which has multiple roosts and is very spacious). I'm glad you mentioned the importance of neutral territory. I hadn't considered that maybe I could move both the 2 year olds and the 10 week olds into the big coop at the same time, and use the littler coop for the littler chicks...that gives me hope

Thanks for all your info! This is really helpful!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm glad you mentioned the importance of neutral territory. I hadn't considered that maybe I could move both the 2 year olds and the 10 week olds into the big coop at the same time, and use the littler coop for the littler chicks...that gives me hope

I would include the 6 week olds in that plan too, especially as from the sounds of it they'll be a few weeks older by the time the coop is ready. As long as they're mingling around outside in the day by then, no reason not to take advantage of the new coop and try cooping up all of them at the same time.

In case you're wondering if it's safe to put "babies" with adults, my last group of chicks cooped up voluntarily with the adults at 29 days old.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I would include the 6 week olds in that plan too, especially as from the sounds of it they'll be a few weeks older by the time the coop is ready. As long as they're mingling around outside in the day by then, no reason not to take advantage of the new coop and try cooping up all of them at the same time.

In case you're wondering if it's safe to put "babies" with adults, my last group of chicks cooped up voluntarily with the adults at 29 days old.

I hope mine will be that agreeable! I’m going to give it a go. I didn’t want to get overwhelmed, but at the same time I know once they’re here, we’ll find a way to make it work — for better or worse!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I hope mine will be that agreeable! I’m going to give it a go. I didn’t want to get overwhelmed, but at the same time I know once they’re here, we’ll find a way to make it work — for better or worse!

If it doesn't work out with the 6 week olds in the mix, it's a great backup plan to have the old coop to use as a holding area through the integration process, so definitely keep that in mind as plan B if needed.

 

[Danielpn]

I have had good luck just letting the whole flock run together in the yard, only sending them to separate roosting places at night. The Marans are not likely to be aggressive, but you might want to to a little research into the temperament of the older chicks. In the yard, 6 week olds should be able to escape bullies.

 

[Pollito Pelon]

You can but it takes time and patience