Different aged chicks together?

[morganalefae]

Ok I'm just new to hatching my own chicks and I'm like day 6 in to the incubation. Well today my husband let me know he bought me a bigger incubator and 6 more brahma hatching eggs. My question is is it possible to put chicks that are 2-3 weeks in age difference together? If so how can I go about it cuz ATM I don't think we have the room for another brooder cage and electric hen.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

It's very possible though it will depend on your chicks and you'll have to watch them when you first integrate them to make sure since all chicks are different. I definitely wouldn't recommend only adding 1 or 2 very young chicks in with older ones but a group should be fine. I routinely keep chicks of different ages together. In my indoor brooder, I have 5, 3 week old turkey poults in with chicks that have hatched as recent as yesterday and as old as 4 weeks. In my outside brooder, I have chicks that range from 10 weeks to 4 weeks both large fowl and bantam. There's a serama chick in there as well as a 10 week old crele orpington cockerel and they do fine together.

 

[morganalefae]

It's very possible though it will depend on your chicks and you'll have to watch them when you first integrate them to make sure since all chicks are different. I definitely wouldn't recommend only adding 1 or 2 very young chicks in with older ones but a group should be fine. I routinely keep chicks of different ages together. In my indoor brooder, I have 5, 3 week old turkey poults in with chicks that have hatched as recent as yesterday and as old as 4 weeks. In my outside brooder, I have chicks that range from 10 weeks to 4 weeks both large fowl and bantam. There's a serama chick in there as well as a 10 week old crele orpington cockerel and they do fine together.

You have a serama awesome u was thinking of getting some of them a hear they are like super small is that true? And what you said is pretty reassuring if need be I can get the bits I need if I must but I would much prefer them grouped in a large group before I move them out side near my egg layers you know the whole power in numbers thing lol.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

You have a serama awesome u was thinking of getting some of them a hear they are like super small is that true? And what you said is pretty reassuring if need be I can get the bits I need if I must but I would much prefer them grouped in a large group before I move them out side near my egg layers you know the whole power in numbers thing lol.

Exactly. I always move mine out in groups but since all my chickens were raised in this way, I just move the new ones straight to the coop with the older ones. Aside from some pecking order spring, I rarely have any issues integrating new ones

I'll try to get a picture of my outside brooder in a bit with Simon serama and the others. I bought some seabrights to keep him company since no other banana hatched and even they are write a bit bigger than him lol

 

[morganalefae]

Exactly. I always move mine out in groups but since all my chickens were raised in this way, I just move the new ones straight to the coop with the older ones. Aside from some pecking order spring, I rarely have any issues integrating new ones

I'll try to get a picture of my outside brooder in a bit with Simon serama and the others. I bought some seabrights to keep him company since no other banana hatched and even they are write a bit bigger than him lol

Are serama and seabrights friendly I heard they really friendly and clam

 

[azygous]

When merging chicks of different ages or staggered hatches, it helps ease the process immensely if you brood them all in close proximity, but with safety partitions, so they recognize one another from the very start.

There will still be a small risk of conflict between those of different sizes, but this is greatly reduced when they've grown to know one another by sight. Chickens have their greatest issues during integration when they appear as strangers to one another.

 

[lazy gardener]

Ok I'm just new to hatching my own chicks and I'm like day 6 in to the incubation. Well today my husband let me know he bought me a bigger incubator and 6 more brahma hatching eggs. My question is is it possible to put chicks that are 2-3 weeks in age difference together? If so how can I go about it cuz ATM I don't think we have the room for another brooder cage and electric hen.

The biggest issue I see, which I'm assuming it will not be an issue is this: I'm assuming you will incubate both groups of eggs separately? Are the Brahma eggs being shipped? Shipped eggs often have very poor viability. I don't like doing staggered hatches.

When mixing chicks of differing eggs, I like to wait till the youngest are moving well, about a week old, before adding them to the older set. As Azygous says, best to let them see each other for a bit. I've had good luck by adding a few of the older ones to the brooder with the younger ones, then mixing the whole group together. You'll need to be sure your brooder is set up so the heating pad will provide enough heat for both age groups. (lots of tilt so the younger ones can get the heat they need, while the older ones still have room.) Make sure the younger ones have enough room so they don't get squished in a pig pile of the older ones.

 

[morganalefae]

My Brahma (and now Pekin) eggs are bought via eBay and shipped, thus far my first batch of eggs (9) all but maybe one are growing now if 8 hatch it will be more then I planned for as I thought maybe 1-4 would be growing cuz of being shipped. Think it has a lot to do with country your in and the delivery speed and good packaging helps.

 

[MigraineMan]

When merging chicks of different ages or staggered hatches, it helps ease the process immensely if you brood them all in close proximity, but with safety partitions, so they recognize one another from the very start.

There will still be a small risk of conflict between those of different sizes, but this is greatly reduced when they've grown to know one another by sight. Chickens have their greatest issues during integration when they appear as strangers to one another.

We started with 6 Black Australorps, then bullied The Wife into letting us get 6 Red Sex Links two weeks later. We ended up with them in the wall-to-wall brooder with a chicken wire partition in-between. We kept them separated until the younger ones were 6-weeks old. There was one night of "fuss" when we removed the partition, but things are settled.

Everybody is out in the coop now, but the two groups still segregate a little. I expect that will evaporate once they get to maturity and there isn't a size disparity.

 

[rutonski]

Hi, I have 4 - 9 week old chicks and one appears to be a too as he's trying his hardest to crow. He sounds so funny. I also have 16 - 5 week old chicks. They've been in the same room mossy of the time. I kept each group at school the first 2 weeks and brought them home on the weekend. Anyway, they are all now (last two weeks)in a new 10x12 coop. The babies are in a brooder with a play yard separated from the 4 bigger ones. The bigger ones have free range of the rest of the coop and a run outside. Today I gave the babies free run of the coop while the bigger ones were outside. They were having so much fun until a bigger one came in and then they all ran into the brooder. Should I just keep trying?

I also have 11 hens and a rooster that are 3 years old. We got them a year ago.. They have their own coop and run which is separated by chicken wire from the others.

The new run is all grass and the old one is all dirt. I'd like to open it up so the oldest one's can have some grass too. Should I get the two youngest groups integrated first or the oldest and the middle group first?