Intro - and what was I thinking? Mixed age chicks ;-)

[Homebody]

Hi all! My name is Julie, I live in GA, I've been keeping chickens for a year, I have one RIR rooster and 4 laying hens (2 RIR, 2 Leghorn). All are doing great!

Recently I tried my hand at hatching in an incubator. That went well and we had a 90% hatch rate. We hatched 7 but then my husband suggested more (as we plan to raise a few for meat), so I hatched another batch 4 weeks later, there were 8 in that batch. So there are 4 weeks between the two groups. I hadn't realized the SIZE difference we would be talking about LOL

So... now I have 7, five-week old chicks - living in a brooder in my garage, and , 8, one-week old chicks in my guest bathroom! When our older chicks will turn 6 weeks, we will be putting them out with the big chickens, but we will put netting up as a barrier between the yearlings and the others for a few months (each group will have their own coop area and run) so they can get used to each other. When they are the same size I will do a meet and greet.

But I have these little guys, and I am concerned in a few weeks our big ones will become too agressive with them when we try to put them out also (I really don't think we can do a 3/way coop and run LOL

So, today I am trying something - I have put two of my 5 weekers (I think they are hens) in with the 1 weekers. They older ones were a bit freaked out for a minute or two but then they all started running around and eating together.

Now I wonder, when I introduce this "littlest" batch to the ones who are a bit older, maybe the 2 older ones will kind of help them be accepted. Or maybe by then, the older ones will be ready to move in with my yearlings.

ARGH! What was I thinking? Oh well, I do love my birds - they are beautiful and so sweet! They sit all over me when I visit them

 

[Imp]

from Washington

Congrats on the chicks. Be careful mixing different sizes.

Imp

 

[chkinut]

have fun with your babies! i'll be kinda going through what ur going through. i have 9 eggs in bator and by the time they hatch, i'll be getting about 6 chicks from our garden center too....they should all mesh well together since they'll be about the same age. but then i'm gonna have a batch of silkie eggs in the bator starting around the 1st week of april. my 1st batch of chicks will be about 4 weeks old by the time the silkies hatch. so i'll have to watch them closely. good luck! and welcome! i learn A LOT here at BYC! it's a great place!