How young is too young.

[Pardee_Boy]

I'm sure this has been asked a million times. But for my sake of reading through old post and filtering through all of the junk here goes. I have 3 hens all pullets and starting to lay. I have 3 more hens that are only 5 weeks old can I introduce them now or should I wait a bit longer?

 

[saladin]

5 weeks is way to young to be introduced to an already established flock. You need to wait until they are 16 to 20 weeks.

 

[Pardee_Boy]

darn thats long. I need to move them outside today. They are running a muck in the house.

what to do?

 

[CMV]

Quote:
Agree. I just integrated 17 week olds and 3 year olds. It was the perfect time. Any sooner and there would have been problems. As it was, the cockerel decided to try to dominate one of the old ladies and got a nasty beating for his efforts. He'll think twice before making any more passes at the grand dames.

 

[zazouse]

What i do is put the chicks in a pen i built with Coral panels covered with hardware cloth, when i am ready to let them out with the bigger flocks i put the panels on blocks to raise them up just high enough for the chicks to get under but not the older birds, I also set a piece of lattice work next to the panel (opt), this way they can get away to their safety zone until the older flocks accept them.

You can also use stakes pounded in the ground just wide enough for the chicks to get threw.

 

[CMV]

Holy cow, Zazouse!!! That's a lot of birds. I love the dog in the middle of it all. I showed the picture to my husband and said, "And you thought I was bad. No more complaints about how many chickens I have."

 

[saladin]

My reasoning for waiting has nothing to do with who gets beat-up and who doesn't (though that can be a concern if there is not escape for the newbie). The integration waiting period has to do with the chance of disease developing in the young birds. The longer you wait the better their chance at survival.

In a free-range situation as in the pictures posted all the rules change.

 

[saladin]

Quote:
I thought that looked like a very small flock myself. Heck, I've got more ducks than that to feed each day nevertheless the chickens! Great pictures though. I also have an Australian Shepherd.

Here's a picture of her in the snow this past year outside the chicken house.

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
I thought that looked like a very small flock myself. Heck, I've got more ducks than that to feed each day nevertheless the chickens! Great pictures though. I also have an Australian Shepherd.

Here's a picture of her in the snow this past year outside the chicken house.

http://i410.photobucket.com/albums/pp189/doceverett/snowfeb2010026.jpg

Aussies are the greatest.

That photo only shows some of our birds we have close to 500

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
Always willing to help LOL