Can I combine chicks?

[Jeanie1]

Hi! I'm a new chick owner--have had two grown chickens for two months but our chicks arrived yesterday. We have six and they are a week old. My friend tried to get us more but several died and we ended up with only a few. SO, today I ordered my very own chicks on Mcmurray and they will arrive next week. 25 of them.

Here is my question. Can I put the new chicks in with the old chicks when the new ones are one week old and the older ones are three and a half weeks old? Do I have to start a whole new brooder?

Also, when do they no longer need the lamp? I heard three weeks old but didn't know if that was true. If it is, I suppose the old ones will be too old for the temperature the new ones will need? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[texas_chick]

A breeder in the area told me it's best to combine chicks under 3 weeks old. By 3 weeks they start to work out their pecking order until then they really don't care much.

I added a few chicks to my 6 day olds. Two were about 10 days old and 1 was 2 days old and they had no problems with each other at all.

I guess you will be just slightly beyond the cut off but I have no idea how strict that cut off is.

Travel is rough on those little guys. It would be sad if they got even more stressed while they are still trying to get over the shipping shock...

 

[Nicola]

what do u do with them in the brooder ,HEat????? how long what temps ahhh soo confusing !!!!

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

No you will need a separate brooder. The temps will differ also. For the newborns you need 95 Depending on where you are I stopped the light on mine at 4 weeks but we are in Florida and it was getting very hot in the room. I have three brooders going right now. One with week and half polish, one with 3 day old banties and one with two one day old runner ducks. With three lights goinmg 24/7 my laundry room is getting pretty hot during the afternoon so I will have to watch the temps. Not only will the temps differ but the chick size will be too different. I did get away with putting a 3 week chick who was alone in with a four week old chick but they were almost the same size. Hope this helps and welcome to BYC. Micki