Integrating different age & breed chicks (plus one old hen!)

[Yabadabadoo]

I have questions regarding integration...and sorry this is long.

Let me start by sharing that I have one beautiful, older easter egger (Mascara). She was part of a flock of four and has been with me for four years. She was with her prior owner for at least a couple of years before that. She laid all the way through last spring (like a champ!). The other three members of her flock predeceased her; she has been solo for about a year.

We are now getting chicks, planning on adding a dozen or so chickens. They will free range in our grassy, treed, ~.5 acre back yard and only coop at night (we have two coops).

Learning is a process, and so there were some things we didn’t think of, and as a result I might have unintentionally made integration harder by splitting my new additions into two groups.

We got nine chicks on Friday with two DOBs, 12/15 and 12/30 (barred rocks, australorps, black stars and gold stars). The feed store where we got “batch 1” is getting easter eggers and silkie bantams in on 1/28, so we thought we would get an additional six chicks then (batch 2). We planned to move batch 1 into a coop at that time (perhaps with supplemental heat, plus we live in Phoenix, so a warmer climate), and batch 2 into the brooder. We would then move batch 2 into a coop somewhere around 6-8 weeks.

Based on what I am reading, I am worried about integrating batch 1 and 2. I also am a little worried about introducing our mature girl to all these young ‘uns. Then also, I read that I may have a hard time integrating silkies (plumed birds?) with nonplumed, plus If there is a problem the silkies are smaller, too. Soooo...

Do I ditch the silkies all together?

1. Do I get my last six chicks now and “see not touch” with some portion of batch 1 and work to integrate them (I can get some egger chicks in one week, so the age span would be just shy of five weeks).
2. Or at this point am I best off with phase 1 and 2, and then what do you think integration will look like?
3. Silkie or not to silkie???
4. And finally, thoughts about integration with Mascara?
   
   I know I am asking for a lot of info here...Thanks so much!

(Photos: Mascara, our last remaining chicken, and Chick Chick, the friendliest (former) member of her flock)

 

[azygous]

You have a potential clown show percolating. I can't even make sense of your plan this early in the morning, so I'm going to give you a link to an article I wrote some time ago that will educate you on the behavior of baby chicks and adults when integrating. There is a very slick way I go about this that eliminates all chance of conflict and injury. Maybe you'll pick up some things that you can use. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...and-start-raising-your-chicks-outdoors.71995/

Merging different age baby chicks can work okay as long as the age spread is no more than four weeks, but keeping it under three weeks is better. You can pop them all into the same brooder and they won't know some are larger and older as long as they're all under four weeks of age.

Putting Silkies into a standard flock can work as long as you have docile breeds, but you don't. Your Barred Rocks could tend to be bullies to the Silkies. Even some Sex-links can be bullies. EEs also are sometimes feather pickers and will be somewhat aggressive to younger chickens. Small breeds don't fare too well with aggressive breeds.

 

[Yabadabadoo]

Thanks @azygous . Unfortunately, based on the research I did I had thought all of the breeds I got were docile...which was my intention, but clearly experience handling and being around birds creates a stronger knowledge base than what I have read. The EEs we had were rather timid, and with inly four birds there wasn’t a noticable pecking order. In just a few days I have already noticed that the gold stars are markedly more aggressive then the balance of the birds, and the australorps the most passive.

Right now our temps are low to mid40s and highs mid60s to mid70s. Do you think nights are warm enough to brood outside?

Appreciate any other thoughts you might have time to share. We read a bunch before starting, but...what can I say? Sometimes eis the best teacher.

 

[azygous]

Your nights are perfect for outdoor brooding. I brood outdoors in night temps down to the low 30s and high 20s. Keep in mind that baby chicks need more heat at night than during the day when the calories they're consuming generate plenty of body heat. At night, when asleep and not eating, they lose body heat and need more heat to augment it.

While it's possible to assume a certain general behavior from different breeds, individuals in that breed can be atypical. Some Barred Rocks can be gentle and sweet, and some docile breeds can be tyrants. So behavior is not dictated. Bad behavior can be mitigated with focused management.

Yes, experience can teach us all a lot. That's why some of us are dedicated to sharing what we've learned with folks here on BYC. It definitely shortens the learning curve for us all.

 

[Sally PB]

@azygous, I just read your article. Fantastic information! I wish I had read it before I got my chicks last year. Looking back, I often was "the scary hand coming down from above." I wish I had known better.

And I love the pictures of you and your babies.

 

[The Cave]

If you aren't planning on putting silkies in their own coop or with bantams only, I wouldn't get them.

 

[Yabadabadoo]

If you aren't planning on putting silkies in their own coop or with bantams only, I wouldn't get them.

Thanks. That is where I am coming out, too.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Right now our temps are low to mid40s and highs mid60s to mid70s. Do you think nights are warm enough to brood outside?

That's about how warm it is when I brood chicks (in May) - and I don't even brood in the coop, as my brooder is too big to fit. I also use an early integration system like azygous. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

Personally... to make things easier, I'd wait until next year to add more chicks, rather than getting the younger batch as well. The more integration you're trying to do at once, the more risk you have of things getting messy. And if eggs are one of your primary interests, you will get better egg production if you stagger the ages of your birds by a year or more, as you're more likely to get eggs during off season out of new layers than hens 1 year old or more.

The Silkies may or may not work with the rest of the flock. Some folks have different types and sizes of birds all together, no issue, and others have a lot of difficulty. With enough space they may be fine with the others, but you need to be ready for the possibility of housing them separately if problems arise despite your efforts.