Chicks at 3 stages...how to integrate

[newchicksnducks]

I have 3 EE pullets that are now 9 weeks old. They have been outside in the hen house for about 2 weeks and are doing great. Inside our house I have a brooder with 4 week old (australorp, dominique, BO, Jersey) who are VERY friendly. (Peep when I near brooder, all "roost" on my arms, etc) They are getting big for the brooder and I would like to move them to a sheltered portion of the hen house. It is separated from main area by chicken wire where older EE can see but not hurt the new chicks. I'll have a heat lamp for nights or days when it is cool out. So far, no problem. But I also have 5 one week old chicks (GLW and SS). They will eventually need to be in the sheltered area of hen house. Will I be able to integrate the then 7 week old chicks with the then 12 weeks old chicks? Do I do it at night or during the day in the run? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[ZZsBabiez]

Ahhh the infamous chicken shuffle..

Sounds like you have a good plan.. keeping the "teens" in view of the big kids, but safe from harm... all the while the 1st graders are growing... At some point, you will be able to introduce the teens in with the big kids.. I do this during the day after they all had a big meal.. and they can free range.. then they all go in at night together..
Okay.. Doesn't always work perfect.. but it seems to be better when the big kids have a full belly and don't want to bother with the teens..
I wait till the big kids go to bed.. then let the teens in to roost.
When you get the teens in with the big kids.. it starts over.. the little kids will be teens.. LOL Hope this didn't confuse things further!

This has worked for me.. Good luck!

 

[LA~Poulet]

I don't know how, but will be reading to see.

I had a staggered hatch and now have 10 day old chicks and 7 day old chicks-it is amazing the difference those three days make. The 10 day olds are vicious around the littler ones (I tried letting them run in the yard together for just a few minutes) so for now I'm having to keep two separate brooders

 

[yodercountrygirl]

They should do fine. I did something like that and they kept in seperate "clicks" until a few weeks ago.(that was over 4wks ago) My older ones chased the little ones just for a short time, then the little ones decided to stay away from them!! You should have no problem at that age. Hope that helps.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. No integration is the same. Try it. If it works, great if not then go to plan B.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

We have two shelters in the pasture as we have two batches which are two weeks apart. When all turned out together in a pasture, they soon started all going to the same shelter to sleep, leaving the other completely empty.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Thanks for the input. So it seems most of the actual integration is done during the day, right? Maybe I'll shoo them all out into the run so there is plenty of room to get away (run is about 20'x30'), which for the 3 EE and 7 younger chicks should be plenty of room for the little ones to hide from the bigger ones. And I have another 3 weeks or so before the actual integration. My middle girls should gain quite a bit in size by then. The 9 week old EE just started clucking last night! They do grow fast