Hi looking to peck your brains x

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I just put a day old chick in with two one week olds. I had four chicks in the brooder, but took two out and placed them in another brooder. Even though the new chick was in with only two other chicks, I was worried about him. After about an hour, though, I noticed that he was shoving the older chicks around and trying to peck their eyes out.....I know, he's a bully! I guess my advice would be to separate your two week old chicks into two separate brooders if you have them. That way your day old chick doesn't have to fend off too many attackers, and he will have a better chance of being accepted.
 
It is better not to house them completely together - however, rather than two separate brooders I would suggest dividing the brooder you have (if the size makes that feasible) so that the two sides can see each other, etc (you can use simple poultry netting, etc to do this) because having the day old be completely alone in an entirely separate brooder is no more optimal than putting it directly in with larger/older birds.
 
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helenw75 said:
Do i need 2 brooders or can a day old chick go in with 2 week olds?
Ta x
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I wouldn't. I have heard too many 'horror' stories where the littlest one gets smooshed, pecked, trampled...that's too young to fend for themselves...hopefully the others that have experience with this will give their two 'sense' and give you proper 'ammo' to make a sound decision that's best for everybody.
Best wishes for all your chickees....
 
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Sometimes a young chick can integrate well with older chicks, and sometimes it can't. If you want to try it, go ahead. Just make sure you supervise the chicks carefully, and make sure that the littler chick isn't getting picked on.

Good luck!
 
BantamLover21 said:
welcome-byc.gif
Glad you joined us!

Sometimes a young chick can integrate well with older chicks, and sometimes it can't. If you want to try it, go ahead. Just make sure you supervise the chicks carefully, and make sure that the littler chick isn't getting picked on.

Good luck!
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X2 Sometimes it works, sometimes not. You will however need to adjust your heat accordingly. The day old is going to need much higher heat than the 2 week olds. So you can either do like Ol Grey Mare has suggested and partition off the brooder with most of the heat on the babies side, or raise up the temp close to at LEAST 85 degrees for the baby. You can lower the heat slower so that in a couple weeks you can mix them all together. Just keep track of your temps with two good thermometers and don't let the baby chill.
 

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