Combining 1 Week Olds with New Chicks

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PupsNHens

PupsNHens

Songster
Sep 19, 2017
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N. Texas
I have 5 baby chicks that hatched Monday night. Mama didn't get the memo that chicks were part of the package, so I have them in a 36" dog crate fashioned into a brooder for them. They are all doing very well, quite active, and sometimes noisy. ;)

I have some chicks coming this week in the mail from Meyer (ordered months ago). :wee Since they are so close in age, I'd like to combine the two groups. I have a 48" crate, that I like better as a brooder because it has a side door entry, that I plan to put the new batch in. I'm trying to figure out if I should move the current group first, or wait until the new babies arrive and move them in at the same time. I have two heat plates, multiple waters/feeders, and a long feeder so setting up the larger brooder ahead of time is not a problem. Anyone have any experience you can share similar to this situation? - Thanks!
 
I would wait until the new chicks recover from shipping. Put them in the new brooder first so they have the advantage of the others, being larger, being disoriented by the new surroundings. They should be very close in age. I’ve combined a few times and not had any problems until four weeks or so. By the time the new chicks recover, they will be beyond that newborn period where they stumble around learning to exist. Once they’re eating and drinking on their own and have gotten some rest, I think you’ll be good to add the older ones. So many times I’ve kept a chick or two inside and rotated out others to stay with them. At the age you’re dealing with, they usually take right to one another.
 
The amount of chicks you have on order would influence also. I think having more chicks around may feel almost less disorientating for newly shipped chicks because they are generally hatched with probably hundreds. Although space is nice (for anyone) they might even feel more safe and secure having a big group to cuddle in. What might be disorientating is going from lots of buddies to hardly any then adding more... Just my opinion...good luck!
 
Henrybelle said:
The amount of chicks you have on order would influence also. I think having more chicks around may feel almost less disorientating for newly shipped chicks because they are generally hatched with probably hundreds. Although space is nice (for anyone) they might even feel more safe and secure having a big group to cuddle in. What might be disorientating is going from lots of buddies to hardly any then adding more... Just my opinion...good luck!
Click to expand...

There will be 11 shipped chicks vs. the 5 existing. Also, the fab five (my first hatched chicks) seemed smaller to me - of course, I don't really have anything to compare them to until the new ones arrive.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll set the new babies up in their own brooder at least until they get steady on their feet and know where the food and water are located. Always an adventure! :)
 

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