Can I introduce week old chicks to 9 werk old chicks?

[Sweetly Silkies]

Thanks for starting this thread, glad I came across it. I have six 2 or 3 week old chicks, and will be getting two 3 day old chicks tomorrow. I have the older babies in an extra large indoor dog kennel and I was just going to set up the new babies in a seperate box inside the kennel with a seperate food/water dishes so I didn't have to have brooders all over the house. I am thinking they will be ok, what do you guys think?

I would say no. But it all depends-
1. How big is the brooder that you have? remember the chicks in there need 8 (one per chick) sq ft in total. so if adding the extra box makes that not possible, then new brooder.
2. assuming that you have 8 sq. feet left over (2 extra sq feet for feeder/water), what kind of box do you mean? no cardboard boxes, too stuffy. They need ventilation. no open tops, the others will just in there and possibly kill them.
3. be sure their area is big enough so that in the long run they have 1 square feet each, so 4 in their area, and places so they can get warmer under the lamp and get away from it.

- Haley

 

[ashl768]

I'm not meaning mix them now, I'm meaning in the next couple weeks or so. Will I ever be able to mix them?

 

[ChickAudie]

Quote:
Thanks Haley! I would be leaving the top off the box, but that's ok because it's one of those wire dog kennels (XL) that have a complete enclosure. I have a little roost in there and the cardboard box sits on top of that, leaving room for the other ones free to explore under it. The box I am using is for office paper, so should be big enough for the next week or so while they grow out a bit. My lamp is completely adjustable and the chicks seem to be happy with where I have it, which would also be a good height for the new babies, but I can adjust the height of the smaller chicks' box. We also can run another lamp out to the coop, if we needed to.

Here's a picture of what I am thinking







Oh, sorry that is so small, I am on a different computer than usual. OK, I fixed it, lol!


ashl768 - Yes, you can integrate your flock. I believe what people are saying is to wait until they can fend for themselves a bit better. I have read a lot about some folks putting up a "nursery" coop inside their big girl coop and run. Where they can get used to each other without being able to get at each other.

 

[Sweetly Silkies]

I'm not meaning mix them now, I'm meaning in the next couple weeks or so. Will I ever be able to mix them?

you can mix them. i would wait though until the younger chicks are 10 weeks old to mix though.

 

[Sweetly Silkies]

Quote:
Thanks Haley! I would be leaving the top off the box, but that's ok because it's one of those wire dog kennels (XL) that have a complete enclosure. I have a little roost in there and the cardboard box sits on top of that, leaving room for the other ones free to explore under it. The box I am using is for office paper, so should be big enough for the next week or so while they grow out a bit. My lamp is completely adjustable and the chicks seem to be happy with where I have it, which would also be a good height for the new babies, but I can adjust the height of the smaller chicks' box. We also can run another lamp out to the coop, if we needed to.

Here's a picture of what I am thinking







Oh, sorry that is so small, I am on a different computer than usual. OK, I fixed it, lol!


ashl768 - Yes, you can integrate your flock. I believe what people are saying is to wait until they can fend for themselves a bit better. I have read a lot about some folks putting up a "nursery" coop inside their big girl coop and run. Where they can get used to each other without being able to get at each other.

one thing i might add is, it looks like there wont be enough room for those other chicks in s few days. and the other box will be much too small for the new chicks once they are a week.

 

[ChickAudie]

Do you think it would be okay to mix the week olds with 3/4-week olds?

 

[lindsey83lewis]

I have 2 BR and 4EE that are two weeks old. Tomorrow I am picking up my BO chicks they will be 3 days old. Do I need to put them in a separate brooder from my current chicks?

 

[loraleaf]

I have questions along the same lines I guess.
I have 4 chicks from one breeder that hatched 2-15-13 that I will go pick up after a business trip next week and I'm getting 4 more from him that will hatch 3-19-13
I knew I couldnt put them together right away but when is the best time and how?
I will also be getting a silkie banty from a friend around 3-15-13 but she hatched at the end of october?! My friend says they should be fine together and since this is my first rodeo so to speak she's my chicken info lady....but after reading this I'm a bit concerned

 

[Fred's Hens]

In our experience, 10 days is about as far apart as you can go with little baby chicks in a brooder.

But, having multiple brooders isn't that bad. Integration of the various groups is better left until they are older and running around outside. They tend to bunch up by mini-flock, as birds brooded together form their own flock and it's pretty tight.

A 5 week old chick simply is too big and powerful to be in with a week old chick. It's a mismatch of gigantic proportions.
Once they are older, this size and age difference isn't so vast. They'll be on more equal footing. There isn't a huge difference between a 10 week old bird and a 13 week old bird.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are dealing with living animals. No one can give you absolute guarantees as to what will happen. Some of it depends on the conditions they are in and some depends on the personality of the individual chicken. Some chickens are brutes. Some are fairly laid back. I’m a firm believer that the more room they have to be able to get away from each other if there is a conflict or just avoid each other to start with really helps. In a brooder there is usually not much room.

I realize if you don’t have experience you need some help trying to figure out what to do. There are going to be risks in whatever you do. Somebody can come on here and say I did this and it worked. Somebody else will come in and say I did exactly the same and it was a disaster. They are both telling you the truth.

I’ve seen a broody hen wean her chicks at three weeks of age. Those chicks were totally on their own living with the flock. They did fine but I have lots of space and my flock was fairly laid back. I’d consider trying to integrate 3 week old chicks with a normal flock without the broody to help introduce them a true invitation to disaster.

I’ve never tried to integrate different aged chicks in a brooder. I can’t tell you what has or has not worked for me because I don’t try it. I trust Fred. If he says 10 days is about as far apart as you can go, I’d use that as a guideline. But I feel fairly comfortable saying I doubt Fred will give you any rock hard absolute guarantees you will never have a problem using 10 days as a guideline. And I’m confident people have mixed chicks with a wider age difference in a brooder and it’s worked out.