First time Breed intigration with new baby chicks and surrogate mom

[ThatParrotLady]

So I want direct experience responses from all the learned people who happen to have had flocks they buy chickens to add to their main flock. Because I'm a little worried trying this and my Rooster who is the only one I had intigrated last year is still picked on here and there by the girls.

I want to get a D'Uccle, Americana, and a Silkie Splash this year from the feed store all at the same time and integrate them into my mother's flock which has My Silkie Hen whom I intend to use as a surrogate because she's been fighting me trying to get broody since it started warming up here (The other girls don't care about their eggs and I've caught Ginger trying to sneak all of their eggs into a pile and hide them so she can sit on them herself, NAUGHTY GIRL). A buckeye Hen named Cathy, Two Buff Orphingtons named Peaches and Cream. And then Houdini my Smoothie (Smooth feathered silkie my sister made him I have no idea what genes she used to get him but he's kinda an awkward boy who tries and fails at everything except alerting me when preditors are near the yard so he does a good enough job)

All the girls are fairly passive and only Ginger desperately wants to mom, so I thought I'd grant her that by letting her incubate some fake eggs for the month then picking up the three chicks on the 8th, and giving them to her under the cover of darkness so she thinks that she hatched her own babies.

My concerns are pretty much these:

Is it alright to keep her 1.5 pound motherly self indoors while she rears the three chicks for me? And will those three breeds get along well with the others? I know there's a chance the D'uccle and the Silkie could end up roosters but I'm hoping with them raised as siblings it shouldn't be too big of a deal and Houdini may be convinced that they're his chicks if I allow him limited viewing with his hen when they're older through the chicken wire, but I want other opinions from folks who know more about what they're doing. The chicks won't be ready for pick up until the 8th next month so I have time to change plans.

 

[azygous]

People integrate chicks into adult flocks all the time, and after a hit or miss fashion, they are usually accepted and become part of the flock. Whether young cockerels will be accepted by the older rooster or not or whether two cockerels raised together will co-exist without trying to kill each other is a matter of luck. No guarantees and no way to insure domestic tranquility when you have two cockerels or more.

On the subject of integrating chicks, over many years of integrating chicks, I've found that the chicks that are accepted the quickest and easiest are those raised by a broody and introduced to the flock by the broody very soon after hatching. These chicks have it easiest because the broody protects them and teaches them how to co-exist in the flock.

The second easiest method of integrating chicks are chicks I have brooded in the run in a safe pen side-by-side with the adult flock. These chicks are in the flock from day one and by the time I let them begin to mingle with the big chickens at age two weeks, they already understand the ropes from observing the goings on from their safe pen.

The third easiest way of integrating chicks that are brooded separately from the flock is to bring them out for day trips starting at age two weeks for increasingly longer periods. When they move into the flock from the brooder at age six weeks, they were generally well accepted by the flock.

To sum up, the earlier you can begin exposing chicks and adults to one another, the easier it is to integrate them.

For more details on how I integrate, read my article on outdoor brooding.http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/r...rooder-and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors

 

[chickens really]

Hello...Inorder for the Hen to accept Chicks she did not hatch the Chicks need to be no less than 24 hours old and not human imprinted so they imprint on the Hen..It can be tricky..She might accept them and again she might peck them to death?...

 

[ThatParrotLady]

Hello...Inorder for the Hen to accept Chicks she did not hatch the Chicks need to be no less than 24 hours old and not human imprinted so they imprint on the Hen..It can be tricky..She might accept them and again she might peck them to death?...

I have zero intention of letting her be with the chicks unsupervised for 24 hours since the indoor pen we have is in a bedroom high off the floor with a twin bed next to it. If it fails then I will try reintroducing her to them later, she's a silkie though so I have high hopes her breed and temperment will make her want to mom more than anything else. She was also the first one to warm up to Houdini without beating him up when he arrived here.

 

[chickens really]

I have zero intention of letting her be with the chicks unsupervised for 24 hours since the indoor pen we have is in a bedroom high off the floor with a twin bed next to it. If it fails then I will try reintroducing her to them later, she's a silkie though so I have high hopes her breed and temperment will make her want to mom more than anything else. She was also the first one to warm up to Houdini without beating him up when he arrived here.

Your not understanding...If it doesn't work the first time..It won't ever work.

 

[ThatParrotLady]

Your not understanding...If it doesn't work the first time..It won't ever work.

No I am fully understanding. If it doesn't work I am going to be there no one's going to be pecked to death I have the spare time to sit in a room and watch them from a distance instead of leaving them by themselves and assuming my bird is going to take them just because I followed all the instructions. Thank you <3

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Chickens do not.... I repeat chickens do not bully other chickens..... However chickens do dominate any chicken that allows itself to be dominated. The decision of rather a flock member is the community punching bag or not, largely is determined by the actions or the lack thereof on the part of the bird being used for a punching bag. I realize that most of you are uncomfortable with the notion that you are no more in control of what happens on this Earth than a lowely ameba is, but get over it, it's true.

 

[ThatParrotLady]

I am trying to figure out where all the negative responses are coming from but I think I am okay if the mods close this thread if I keep getting these bleak responses.

Any owner who is good enough to have a pet is smart enough to have back up heatlamps and pre bought food and a willingness to put the time in or money to afford random curve balls thrown at them.

I understand I am new to the forums and did ask the question for help.

But that does not mean I did not take the time to preplan things dont work out with Ginger because i dont want her to stress them out or me either. If it ends up being a roughshod trip the whole way then sure I know I agreed to that but at least I wont regret looking into personal experiences to ensure i have all my grounds covered and they will just have to meet the rest of the flock when older.

 

[aart]

All the girls are fairly passive and only Ginger desperately wants to mom, so I thought I'd grant her that by letting her incubate some fake eggs for the month then picking up the three chicks on the 8th, and giving them to her under the cover of darkness so she thinks that she hatched her own babies.

If she's truly good and broody...and the chicks are just one day old...you have a pretty good chance of her accepting them. Has she ever hatched or adopted chicks before? Would be better to let her raise them in the coop, but separated by wire for a few days, than inside the house.