Hi, I have 4 chicks that are 3 weeks old and I wanted to add more to my bunch, should I set up another brooder for my new chicks and then integrate them when the new chicks are a bit older? and how should I go about integrating them if they are in separate brooders and only a few weeks apart?
Yes, another brooder for the new chicks for at least the first few days, or a big divided brooder. You don't want the big ones stepping on the little ones and bugging them while the little ones learn to walk and eat and find the warm place and so forth.
After that, it partly depends on how many new chicks you have. If you have a large number of new chicks (more than a dozen), I would put one big chick in with the small ones, watch for a bit, add another-- if all goes well, you would soon have all the big ones in the same brooder with the small ones. If it doesn't go well, remove one or more big ones, and move on to another plan.
This method will usually work for any numbers, even if you tried to put them together another way and it failed:
Set up a large brooder with a divider made of hardware cloth or something similar. The chicks need to be able to see and hear through it, but not go through it. Both sides need food and water, heat according to the ages of the chicks, and some cool area to get away from the heat.
Let the chicks live next to each other for at least a few days. This can start just as soon you have the younger ones (no need to have completely separate brooders, just put them in their side of the divided one.) Or it can start later, depending on what works for you. After a few days, try letting them be together and watch what happens. Or try moving one big chick in with the little ones, than later another one, until they are all together. Living side by side, at some point they will consider themselves to be all one group, and can be together with no trouble. The only question is when that happens. It may happen at different points for some of the bigger chicks than for other ones.
