Help me figure this out?

[Keggen]

I have chicks and hens of all stages going on and I need help figuring out how to integrate them all.

Right now I have 21 adult hens and 1 roo in my coop/run area. 1 hen just had 3 chicks yesterday and there is a possibility of more hatching today. I also have 21 chicks that are in my brooder that are approximately 2 weeks old. We are trying to socialize them but they are a little bit crabby. lol Then I have eggs incubating due to hatch around the 24th or 25th of May.

I would like to purchase 3 or 4 French Black Copper Marans from a local seller but I am not sure how to do this. I have a few options and want opinions on which is the best idea.

1. I could buy fertile eggs and add them to my incubator but they would be 2 days behind the ones I have in there now. Would that be acceptable for hatching purposes or too far apart?

2. I could buy chicks that she has that were born on the 30th so they are 5 days old, and Im wondering if I can slip them in with the mama hen and her chicks tonight. Or is the 5 day versus 1 day old chicks too much difference? I am also worried about possible contamination so I'm thinking this might be a bad idea if I don't quarantine.

3. I could buy chicks from her that she's hatching on the 8th and 17th. Again I would have to quarantine probably, right?

4. Or I could buy chicks from her, segregate them from my other chicks and figure out how to mix them together in a few weeks when they are closer in size.

Some of the chicks I have right now will be roosters and they are not going to be with me for long. Once I figure out hen vs roo then the roo's will be culled, but for now I have a lot of chicks going on. lol!


Are any of these ideas suitable for mixing in with any of my new chicks or the mama hen and her babies? I have to decide today so any help would be great. I'm kind of thinking option 1 would be best so I don't have to worry about contamination. In which case would the 2 day difference be tolerable for hatching together?

 

[Mrs. K]

wow - that is a lot of work.....

And I think the main answer to your questions is NO.... Your chicks are all far enough apart to just cause trouble at this point in time.

Five day old chicks will not understand the Broody hen, and she won't like them, and probably kill them if you don't get them out. She will know they are not her's, and they will know they are not hers, and there is a possibility of the 5 day old chicks attacking the new chicks, but I think the broody hen is the real problem.

I have not run an incubator, but I would not add eggs to a hen that was incubating..... two days later.

I don't think you have to quarantine chicks, but you cannot put brand new chicks with chicks a couple of weeks old. Now I do think that once the chicks were all feathered out and IF they were close to the same size, I think then you could put the various groups of chicks together, but that would be about July.

Mrs K

 

[donrae]

You might ask on the incubation forum. I think you can add eggs to an incubator already running, just plan for them not to hatch when the first batch does. I also don't have incubator experience, so I'd advise to check with those that do.

 

[Keggen]

I went with the eggs, thanks for the feedback!