A few questions about adding new chicks to pair of older chicks

[dancingchicken77]

i am a bit of a newbie. i have two 4-week-old chicks, and am incubating 3 more eggs which are due to hatch in one week. the breed is pekins, which i think in the us you call them cochins? (i'm in australia)

i have a few questions to ask you guys if you can help me please -

(1) when the new chick/s hatch, should i add them right away to the box (with lamp) i am keeping the 4-week-old chicks in? can they be together right away, safely? i've heard chickens can be resistent to newcomers. i was thinking of kepeing them separate anyway, as in a few more weeks i thought i'd put the older chicks in a coop outside

(2) i am thinking of hatching some silkies next. if i do that, the other chicks will be roughly 8-9 weeks and 3-4 weeks old. i understand pekins are a docile breed, but will they happily accept some new silkies into their group? is it ok if it is just one silkie?

thanks so much in advance if you can help me

 

[luckitri]

When they are young they are glad for all the company they can get. However chickens grow so fast that the two batches will be at different developmental stages and it may not go well. Personally I would not risk it.

 

[allaboutdemchicks]

There are plenty of people with much more experience than me...but I will tell you mine. No, do not put them together. Even a few weeks matters. But what I do is put them where they see each other (I use clear storage boxes as brooders). When they do get use to each other as they get older they will still have to establish the pecking order but you do not have to worry about newborns getting injured. In the meanwhile, have fun with all those chicks!!!

 

[hinkjc]

Duplicate post https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=103731