I have four 7 week old chickens. Can I add four more to my flock that are 4 weeks old?

[leah9114]

Hello. . Hubby and I are 1st time chicken owners so I'll probably be posting a lot of questions and the like over the next few months. For now though, I have a huge question I can't seem to find an answer for. Here's my story:

We bought 4 pullets from Atwoods a couple of weeks ago, they are now 7 weeks old and we would like to buy 4 more pullets before atwoods stops selling them until next year. Are the chickens still young enough to be okay with four new chickens today? Or would I need to separate the 7 week olds from the 4 week olds? Advice needed soon. Atwoods isn't getting anymore shipments this Spring and what that have right now is all they're getting so I'm curious to know if I should drive out there and buy four today or wait until next spring. I'm very new to all of this and would prefer to not have to separate the chickens if possible, so if that's the general consensus I'll probably wait until next yr to get more chickens. Thanks in advance! I simply love this website! S much great info!

 

[Chick Charm]

The sooner you add the others the better. You may very well likely have some pecking order issues but the younger they are the better. It takes a good 6 months to finalize pecking order. Watch the new chicks with the 7 week olds to make sure there is no chaos. 3 week age difference is about the limit in my book.

Phil

Wish ya the best

 

[leah9114]

Thank you, Phil. I did go get 4 new chicks today. I brought them home and introduced them to my current flock. The older girls were curious at first, but then walked off to free range for the rest of the day. Periodically, I noticed when the older irks would come back to the coop for food, they did peck pretty hard a few times on the new chicks. Even chased them around a bit. The smallest chick took a good pecking to the head that made her cry out too. . For now, here's my plan...

During the day, let my older girls free range. They have food and water buckets thought my yard so I should be able to lock the new chicks in the run with their own food/water for a few weeks.

I built a divider for my coop today. Basically a wood framed chicken wire screen dividing half of the coop/roost area. Put the new ones in half, and the older ones in half for bedtime. Each area has separate food/water.

Is this a good plan? How long should I wait before letting them all free range and roost together? I don't want to see anymore chicken fights. My coop is a prefab purchase from Atwoods called the hen house. It's not very big, but will work with plenty of room for another few weeks until our new coop is finished. Any advise appreciated.