Can week old chicks live with hens?

[craftymama86]

Sound silly but my hubby got 10 week old chicks and 4 hens today. The hens are young, not laying yet. I think they're around 3 or 4 months. Will our chicks be safe with the young hens or is it possible the hens will pick on them, maybe killing them? Any help would be great, thanks!

 

[Tropical Chook]

If all of them are newcomers, I would imagine they will be alright together. If there's going to be trouble, you'll be able to spot it straight away, and then take action. I personally have found that the older birds don't really tend to hurt baby chicks. They will peck them if they step out of line, but nothing too serious. Saying that, I only keep Asian game birds, and games may be different to other breeds. I allow my hens to hatch their eggs without separating them from the flock, and I've never yet lost a chick to the flock because of pecking order and etc. Some hens will, as I've said, peck at the chicks on occasions, but I've never yet seen any of the roosters do this.

Anyway, I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to comment.

 

[spartacus_63]

The older girls will undoubtedly dominate the younger chicks, but usually they will not seriously injure the chicks. I (when I say I, I really mean mother hen) introduce my new chicks to the flock between 3 & 4 weeks and there is rarely a problem and never from being picked on. I have had a few chicks injured from being stepped or fallen upon but never anything serious. I have found that when my chicks get to be 3-5 months old they tend to keep their distance from the main flock and usually develop into a sub flock, especially if there is a young roo with them. They rejoin the normal flock activity after they have matured or it gets to cold.

 

[craftymama86]

They are all new to each other. They seem ok so far but I'm still a little nervous, lol. One of the hens seems a bit moody. She pecked at my hubby when we picked her up to take her to the coop, lol. She also got into one of the nest boxes and each time a chick would go in there she kinda of pecked 'em out, lol. It looked funny I just hope she doesn't cause any problems. Oh, I don't know if this makes any difference but all the chicks and 2 of the hens are RIR's and the other 2 hens are BR. The one moody hen is a BR. Anyways....

 

[Tropical Chook]

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