I asked on Managing Flock but Asking here too

[Katz5617]

I have a chance to get three adult Speckled Sussex. They just turned a year old and are laying. I have 8 baby chicks that are between 6 and 8 weeks. They are out each day and in the coop at night. I have a mixture of four RIR, two barred rock, one cochin and one Buff Orphington. I think one of the Barred Rock is a male and we will have to take him back, but waiting to see. I have plenty of square footage in the run for 11 chickens. I know the coop will need to be expanded, but we have an unused dog house that we can convert to help with the housing situation. Is is okay to introduce 3 adults in with the chicks or is that a no no. I know the lady and according to her these adults have been hand raised and are docile and child friendly. They are in a pen with a lot of her chickens. I need to let her know within the next few hours as someone else wants them. The cost of the three is only $20 so I thought that was a great price for layers, but I am concerned about my baby chicks otherwise I would head right over. Any advice ASAP is appreciated.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

This sort of flock mixing is best done when the youngest birds are 16+ weeks of age - at 6-8 they are still small and would be vulnerable to attack by the older birds -- as larger, more mature birds at the 16+ mark they stand a better chance of being able to hold their own vs. being bullied to the point of injury or worse....especially with space that is already tight (ie the coop situation). What you *could* do is divide the run and place the dog house in one half for one group, house the other group in the other end and let them adjust to each other that way while you wait for the young ones to grow up a bit and *then* proceed with actual physical mixing of the flock. Even this suggestion hinges on you feeling comfortable with the health of the new birds and exposing your young ones to the possible risk of infection from birds coming from off-site - which can be addressed with proper quarantine.

 

[SMonroe1990]

People integrate different ages of chickens all the time. The sussex you are going to want to quarantine to begin with anyways just to make sure and then if you can I would just make them a small pen off of the dog house/coop so all the chickens can see each other but not get at each other for a little bit. I have heard that integrating chickens to other chickens can be hard though so it is really up to what you want to do. I however would get them but thats because I wanted speckled sussex and where I ordered from didn't have any available for a date that worked with me. Good luck with your decision.

 

[Viollettt]

I don't see why not. You need to quarantine these new chickens anyway in the beginning. Then I would put them somewhere with a fence between them and the rest. They will get used to each other in no time. I've never had a problem integrating anything with chicks of any age or chickens of any age for that matter. As long as you give them the time to see without touching first.

 

[cafarmgirl]

On the flip side...I've seen young birds (by that I mean anything less then about 12 weeks old) scalped and killed when put in with older birds, it's very risky. So I agree with Ol Grey Mare. The best, safest thing to do would be, after quarantine of the new birds, to make a fenced in area where they can be next to each other but separated by a fence. Let them get used to each other for a week or so before you let them out together. In my experience it's always been better to take integration of new birds slow rather then trying to speed things along. If it doesn't go well and the older birds get it in their heads to go after the youngsters sometimes it becomes hard to break them of it.

 

[Katz5617]

Moot point. She had the ones I was wanting to get the Sussex - something called Wyndot (no idea of the spelling) and something with Lace in the name - she had three in each lot of the three sets. She has decided to go back to college and won't be able to keep the chickens. Someone else came and purchased all three sets. I can't blame her for selling them all together. I had extra fencing and had decided to get them and put up a temporary fence down the middle and make use of the dog house but it wasn't meant to be. I'm still happy with my babies, but was excited at the prospect of having layers - would be so much fun to go out and gather up some eggs. As it is, I will learn patience while waiting for mine to grow up.

 

[Katz5617]

On a side note - it is a good thing to know about introducing adults and young chicks - I learned something new today so thanks all.