how early can I intergrate my babies?

[Dar]

I have a mixed flock age ranges from 3 years to 1 year... then I have a bunch of chicks in the brooder in the basement that are about 8 weeks old...

I normally intergrate my flocks when the babies are fully feathered... I cant wait this time they are driving me nuts, the smell in my basement is horrid, not of poop just dusty and barn smelling.

Is it to early to bring the babies to the big girl coop?

 

[NonnasBabies]

I had real bad luck intergrating 2-3 week olds with 6-8 weeks olds. They killed one and tore 3 of their vents up!!

When I mixed my flock in December I did it when they were 16 weeks old and they were almost the same size as the bigger ones and didn't have a problem!!

Good luck to you... Hope all goes well with them!!

Missi

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

I do mine at 4 weeks I do have a grow out section in there though so the big girls and babies get to know one another and they won't fight when they reach the age to be with the big girls which will be at 8 weeks so I say no it is not to early HOWEVER they will need to be put into the pecking order so I would watch them closely to make sure they all get along.

This also goes with the weather you have in your area along with the coop you have as well.

Good Luck to you.

 

[Kittymomma]

I feel your pain! If you have a way to seperate an area in your main coop so you have a look but don't touch type set up I think they are old enough. If you don't I really think you would be better off waiting another 4 weeks.

I have a group the same age and they were in my son's b-room for the first 2 1/2 weeks. It was gross, but using pine pellets instead of shavings helped keep the mess to a minimum. The smell was reduced greatly and they couldn't kick them out of the brooder as easily as the shavings, but the feather dander that gets all over was still horrible. The 4x4 dog kennel that I use for a grow out coop is occupied by a broody hen right now so I can't get mine out of the brooder yet either. What I did do though is put them in a stock tank on the covered front porch. It's not ideal, but they seem happy enough in there with a 100 watt heat lamp and they're out of my boy's room.

How many chicks do you have and how many adults? I've fudged integration before when the youngsters greatly out numberd the adults. The grown hens had too many targets to pick on any one chick too much and just gave up even trying after a day or so.

 

[Dar]

i have 21 full grown and 11 babies

there are shavings from one end of my basement to the other
i think i have mice again from the feed being inside
the dust down there is out of control... for some reason the guys are dustier then any ones i have had before

 

[Kittymomma]

Well with it being a 2:1 favoring the adults I would not just put the chicks in the coop. If you can't make a seperate area in the coop for them and don't have or are unable to use a covered porch or garage I'd at least change the bedding to pellets. It won't solve the problem, but it will help a bit.