Can they play outside together?

[lightchick]

I have two 1 week old chicks and four 10 week old chicks. I would like to have them living together asap, but for now I'm wondering if the chicks could play outside together with supervision. The younger chicks go outside every day anyway and so would it be alright for them to play outside at the same time?

Also when do you think would be the best time for them to be able to live together?

 

[iwiw60]

I voted for the 6-week answer, but everything in life is subject to circumstance. If you were to put chicks that young in with those 10-week olds?? Disaster for sure...JMHO

 

[boyswillbeboys]

It depends, I have 1 year old hens, I added 12 4 week olds in a cage to the coop, they were able to get out, but the big girls couldn't get in, they had their own food and water, the chicks are now 16 weeks old, and in with the main flock, no problems.
I hatched 2 eggs, put them in a brooder in the coop, was worried about the heat lamp, and the other chickens jumping on the brooder box, so I moved them to the same cage the other batch of chicks had been in at 4 days, they are 2 weeks old, and already running around with the full grown chickens, no problems.

The general recommendation is that you wait till they are the same size, but if you are introducing smaller birds to bigger birds, make sure the smaller birds have a safe place to get away.

I use a wire dog cage, they can see each other but the small ones have their food and water in a safe place.

 

[lightchick]

Soooo. They can't even visit each other?