Combining Baby Chicks of Different Ages

[Mid-Atlantic Coop]

Hello All,

I received 14 baby chicks last week.

One of them died.

The hatchery is sending a replacement plus 2 more for the minimum required and heat purposes

They will be two weeks younger than the 13 I already have.

How long before I can combine them?

I may have an opportunity to add one additional female chick of the same age within a month. I read that 6 weeks is when pecking order kicks in).

Will adding a single chick before the 6 week mark be a concern.

Thanks for your advise.

Karl

 

[Roo5]

Pecking order kicks in from day one, your probably not gonna have any issues.Maybe have an extra cage just in case.The pullet will likely be ok with them as well, when are you getting the pullet?

 

[Mid-Atlantic Coop]

Thank you for your reply. I am new to this. I should have said another female chick the same age would be added in 3 weeks or so. Wasn't certain if they are less than 2 months old would adding a single female chick of the same age would be problematic.

 

[Roo5]

3 weeks from now they’ll all, including the pullet, be fully feathered and probably being well capable of defending themselves ,I don’t see you having too many issues with this,?as long as you feed them right and they have good space you should be fine.

 

[Lillycat918]

I bought 5 chicks from TSC and got two of them that are at least three weeks and the rest are 1 to 2 weeks. I know it's not that far apart, but they all do pretty well together! one of the older girls is a little more bossy to the younger chicks, but other than that they all get along. I did take the two older girls out to roam a little bit and the other three were "distress" cheeping in the brooder Once I placed the girls back in the brooder, they stopped (its almost like they didn't like the separation).

 

[ironsightfarm]

There is a 2 week difference between 8 of my chicks and 3 others (almost 2 weeks and almost 4) - I kept the littles in a separate brooder for the first 2 days after arrival so I could leave lights on and monitor, then attached their brooder box to the big girl's with hardware cloth separating. After a few days I tried them all together and there hasn't been any issues (aside from a few days of curious eye pecks from the littles). The bigger girls have been very gentle, and have been showing the little ones the ropes - they all snuggle up together for bed at night, and just this morning I actually found my JG sitting on my SS's back while they slept

I was worried about aggression from the bigger girls, and then about the littles being squished at night under the brooder plate but I've had no problems with either!

 

[debid]

My first batch of chicks ranged in age from 3 days to 3 weeks. The 3 weekers tended to run over the littlest in their enthusiasm but no real damage was done. Still, I put in a short-legged table that I had from elevating a feeder in the past so there was a hide out if anyone got stressed.

The current batch was two 3 days and two 10 days when I put them in. The one I had to pull out for a day was one of the older ones that was injured by the curiosity of one of the younger ones! So, I wouldn't expect any trouble but it's always a good idea to be prepared.