Do you think it’s important to raise and socialize your own chicks?

[Witchychickens]

I have a friend who is currently raising my chicks because we don’t have a coop yet (it’s in construction now) and I wasn’t sure where to raise them. I’ve since figured that out.

She loves hatching. She is full of chickens but wanted to hatch and offered to hatch me some. I also wanted a couple specific breeds. I found a hatchery one state over that had all my specifics. I picked them up this weekend. I brought them to my friend who hatched 7 the week or so before.

I got 5 specific breeds from the hatchery and will take 2-3 more from her (depending on my silkies and if they turn out to be Roos) for a total flock of 8.

I have 2 questions, firstly, I’m having second thoughts about her raising them. She’s fabulous and I trust her but I want my chicks and I want to raise and socialize them with my kids. The reason we didn’t do this is because I cannot have a rooster here (I love them and wish I could).

Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens. We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

I’m simply trying to decide how to handle this.

Any input would be lovely.

 

[azygous]

The advantage of raising your own chicks on your own premises, beside having the day-olds imprint on you, is that they will develop resistance to your local pathogens during the first two weeks where their immune systems are open to producing antibodies.

Chicks raised elsewhere will not have these antibodies and could become sick when brought to your place. This happens commonly.

It's so tempting to get those cute baby chicks before you have the proper housing for them, but it's so much easier on chicks if you're prepared when they come. People new to chickens may be unaware that chicks will be ready for a coop at four to five weeks.

 

[NatJ]

Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens. We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

Depending on how much space you have to raise chicks, maybe you could raise yours and all of hers, then return all males to her once they are old enough to be accurately sexed.

That would save you any bother with introducing chicks, because they would all be raised together.
Your friend would have to either dispatch the males or introduce them to her flock, but she would have to do one of those things anyway.

Of course this would only work if you have enough space for the whole group of chicks, and if your friend agrees.

 

[wrathsfarm]

The advantage of raising your own chicks on your own premises, beside having the day-olds imprint on you, is that they will develop resistance to your local pathogens during the first two weeks where their immune systems are open to producing antibodies.

Chicks raised elsewhere will not have these antibodies and could become sick when brought to your place. This happens commonly.

It's so tempting to get those cute baby chicks before you have the proper housing for them, but it's so much easier on chicks if you're prepared when they come. People new to chickens may be unaware that chicks will be ready for a coop at four to five weeks.

This is great advice...

 

[TaylorGlade]

We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

I’m simply trying to decide how to handle this.

Any input would be lovely.

Sexing chicks is something that needs to be left to professionals or they can really be hurt badly. Unless you are referring to an autosexing/sex-link breed and that just takes a little practice.

We prefer to raise our own for all the reasons @azygous mentioned. And if you have kids, it's a beautiful learning experience.

As far as adding more hens later - yes. You would have to do slow intros later, but you will have to do that with any new birds no matter the age.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Do you think it’s important to raise and socialize your own chicks?

When chickens imprint on humans they get the two species confused, which creates a lot of issues. The ideal situation is for chickens to hatch and raise other chickens

 

[akitafriendakita]

I think socializing becomes more important after the first week. First week you don't want to bug them too much because they're pretty weak. Some socializing is okay but I've seen chicks take a turn for the worst at that age if you stress them out too much.

If they aren't that old, it may not be a bad idea to just bring them to your place now and start with the socializing. You have a huge window before they become adults where they are pretty receptive to interacting with you/not completely shy yet/they're just easier to work with young.

You would need to do a slow introduction with older chicks. They probably won't kill each other, but bullying is bound to happen and they will need to remain separated safely for a little while (while also being able to view each other) before they can live together. I have two groups of chicks right now that are 2 week/1 week and bullying is still happening, just on a much lesser scale because they're not that strong yet.

 

[azygous]

Some of us have been raising baby chicks for going on two decades or more, and we've made much different observations and conclusions than the last two posters.

Here is my article on such observations over many years of raising baby chicks to bond early with their human care givers coupled with the science underlying those observations. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ding-agent-between-us-and-our-chickens.78307/

 

[akitafriendakita]

Some of us have been raising baby chicks for going on two decades or more, and we've made much different observations and conclusions than the last two posters.

Here is my article on such observations over many years of raising baby chicks to bond early with their human care givers coupled with the science underlying those observations. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ding-agent-between-us-and-our-chickens.78307/

I'm confused as to why you came into this thread to claim other people are wrong and then linked some guys thoughts on hormones. I'm a professional falconer who trains wild animals and I have owned chickens for three decades too. No need to come in and pretend everyone else is dumb except you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m having second thoughts about her raising them. She’s fabulous and I trust her but I want my chicks and I want to raise and socialize them with my kids. The reason we didn’t do this is because I cannot have a rooster here (I love them and wish I could). Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens.

I would not let this reason stop me. While some cockerels can, maybe, might, sometimes but not often start crowing at a pretty young age most wait until later. You should have plenty of time to identify the boys and get rid of them before there are any problems. You have a place for them to go, this should simplify things.

We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

You never know how integrations will go. It sounds like they will all be the same age. You might be able to just put them together and they will be fine or they may fight or bully. I'd try putting them together and be prepared to slowly integrate if it proved necessary.

The advantage of raising your own chicks on your own premises, beside having the day-olds imprint on you, is that they will develop resistance to your local pathogens during the first two weeks where their immune systems are open to producing antibodies.

Chicks raised elsewhere will not have these antibodies and could become sick when brought to your place. This happens commonly.

That's not limited to the first two weeks. Plenty of people keep their chicks in a sterile brooder for the first 4 weeks or more so the first time they are exposed is after they leave the brooder. They can still develop the immunities or resistance they need. It happens all of the time.

Besides, they will be swapping chicks back and forth, especially if some prove to be cockerels. I strongly believe in biosecurity but in this scenario I think you watch for symptoms and treat for whatever (if anything) shows up. Often it is nothing and usually if anything shows up it is more of an inconvenience than a threat. It is always possible you can get something that will totally wipe out your flock, that does happen. But if the friend's flock is still there the risk of that happening is greatly reduced.