Forced to put 3 month old chicks with full grown chickens.

[terrifictoby]

I have a problem. We bought some baby chickens and we have them in boxes in the house. They stand about 9 inches tall now. My husband was going to build an addition onto the hen house for them with their own yard. However, one month ago my husband was in a very bad accident and had severe brain injury as well as fractured vertebrae and then he threw a couple of blood clots. Needless to say, he is unable to do this and I am an invalid. I am also unable to pay for help as he was the wage earner in the house and we have no insurance. My question is " can I put these guys in with older birds" The older birds were born in March this year with one a couple months older.

I don't know what to do about them. Thank you in advance for any info you can give me.

 

[TXmom]

It's possible to integrate them without major problems...I added 3 younger pullets to my flock and it worked out great. My flock was about 6 months old and my new pullets were 2-3 months old. After the big girls were on their roost for the night (about 9 pm)...it was dark outside, and I put the 3 new ones on the lower roost. The little girls JUMPED UP to the higher roost and snuggled in between the big girls!!!! In the morning, things went much smoother than I expected, too.

There's been a tiny bit of chasing and/or pecking, but no injuries...just "pecking order" adjustments. I was worried, but it all worked out fine. However, I have heard horror stories about when it doesn't work out like that. Those babies can get really hurt if they can't get away from the bigger ones.

 

[georgialee]

I'm so sorry about your husband's accident.

I tried putting my younger birds in with the older and they attacked them... and not just the pecking order thing. You may want to do a quick trial run if you're able but be right there in case things go south.

 

[Sassah001]

Hey, I just integrated babies younger than yours with 3 of my adults and the first try failed. I tried integrating at night hoping they wouldnt' notice... They did, right away and started pecking the babies... The second try was yesterday and it was a lot more successful, what I did is when the adults went out into the run i locked the chicken door. I then put the babies in the coop and let them chirp around for a couple hours. The adults new right away that the babies were inside and started pecking at the door but eventually went back to business as usual. I kept the adults outside till right before dusk and then opened the door. I ran around and sat in the coop for about 45 minutes until I was sure there weren't going to be issues. They are all acting harmoniously now

 

[Lynn57]

First off I'm very sorry for what happened to your husband. I sincerely hope things improve for you both in the near future.

I'm going to be adding a 3 mth old chick to my flock in the near future and have decided to add the chick in a wire dog crate into the hen house. She''ll have her own food and water in it and the other hens will be able to see and hear her but not peck her. After a couple days of this I'll put her outside in the daytime with them but still in her crate. After that I think things should work out. At least this is how I've done other type of animals and it always seems to work.

Best of Luck

Lynn
www.spruceviewfarms.com