Integrating young chicks

[JiltdRoyalty]

My girlfriend and I are new to raising chickens. I read a lot of the threads and I find a lot of conflicting information. Willing to listen to any advice and then plot my course of action.

Here's the situation, we wanted to raise egg layers but had never done it before. So, we started out with four Broiler chicks. We brooded them inside till about 4 1/2 weeks old and then move them out to our chicken coop. Right now there are about five weeks old. Four days ago, we picked up our egg laying chicks that are, as best I can tell, a week old. They are in the brooder in the house.

So, I have two batches of four chicks approximately a month apart in age. What is the best way to integrate them into my coop outside?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

You say you have broiler chicks? "Proper" meat chickens that grow like blazes broilers?

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!
Conflicting info is the norm on the net....there are many different ways to raise chickens, most are fine, some are not.
You'll have to figure out what works best for your goals and resources.

If they are indeed broiler chickens..... what breed, Cornish Cross or Red Rangers?
CX will be ready to butcher at about 8 weeks, RR take longer usually.

You're probably going to want to keep them separate...how to do that has many options.
More info on your coop/run would help...dimensions and/or pics would be most helpful.
If they are meat birds, when do you plan to harvest?
Climate can play a part also...putting your location in your profile will help folks give better answers/suggestions.

Best thing would be to split the coop space with a barrier of wire fencing or chicken wire.

 

[JiltdRoyalty]

I'm not sure of the breed, I bought them at a local feed store. I'll take some pictures today, as soon as it stops raining.
And thanks for the replies!

 

[JiltdRoyalty]

These are the chicks that I bought at the local feed store in Wichita. They called them "frypan" chicks.

There about 5 1/2 to 6 weeks old.

 

[sumi]

This helps a lot, thank you! Proper broilers as I know them can be nearly the size of a full grown "normal" chicken, by the time they are 5 weeks old and ready to be processed soon after! These guys look like perfectly ordinary chickens to me, so I'd say do as aart suggested above and make a divider in the coop/run. When the newbies are old enough to move outside, place them alongside the older ones for 1-2 weeks, so they can get used to each other and then let them mingle and stay together in the coop and run. Integrating chicks is much easier than integrating adult birds, so I'd suggest you do this as soon as possible, while they're all young still.