Chicks going with older chicks/hens

[kwebb]

How long do you wait to let the chicks go with the hens? We have some 2 month old chicks. Right now we have them separated. I know they are too small, but at what time do you mix them with the big chicks/hens. We let them out and there was really one chick that goes after them, the other 3 don't really bother them. I am just curious when you know its ok to add them to the older hens.View attachment 1533745

 

[kwebb]

 

[Chickassan]

I let mine go into the flock at 6 weeks, but i'd been putting them out in a pen like yours since 2 weeks. They are 8 weeks now and roosting on their own with the big hens.

 

[kwebb]

This is about their 2nd week to be out there. So I will give it some more time and let them free range with the bigger chickens and monitor them and see how they do. I just don't know what to do if one chick keeps chasing them down.

 

[Chickassan]

When you let them out prop up one end of the pen they're in now with something just high enough for chicks to go under but not bigs so they can go to safety if they need or want to.

 

[kwebb]

When you let them out prop up one end of the pen they're in now with something just high enough for chicks to go under but not bigs so they can go to safety if they need or want to.

Great idea!

 

[Chickassan]

That is how I did my babies, I put their food and water in the safe space too so they could eat in peace. Just start lifting as soon as the first chick squeezes under you'll know that it is high enough, stick something under there and you are set.

Great idea!

 

[rosemarythyme]

This is how I gave my chicks a safe space, as lifting up the brooder didn't work for me (the hens just stuck their heads under it instead). There's a gap behind the white wire on either side by the bricks, big enough for chicks to fit through but not the hens. Same idea as lifting but it made the chicks feel safer since the hens couldn't stick their heads in from all sides like before

As I brooded my chicks in the run they were out of the brooder after 2 or 3 weeks to start mingling with the hens and fully moved into the coop at 6 weeks.