Tyler and I have started our adventure with chicken raising. 
They are 5-6 weeks old right now. One silkie, a barred rock, and 2 cuckoo marans. The barred rock has turned out to be a roo, too bad he was really my favorite of the bunch. I really wanted the marans because of the dark eggs, but I've since learned that the cuckoo's don't lay as dark as the copper marans. I got all of these at a local feed store so I don't know what color eggs they hatched from, though the salesman told me they would lay chocolate colored eggs.
Even before we found out the BR was a roo I wanted to add some copper marans but I'm not sure about the best way to go about it. I thought about getting some 2 week old birds and putting brooders next to each other, move the older birds out to the coop and keep the large brooder next to the coop on warm days until they were big enough to integrate. Though, the only ones for sale in my area are straight run only so I figure I'd have to buy 3 birds at least to ensure at least one female, then I'd have to downsize to 4-5 chickens at some point.
So then I started toying with the idea of buying 1 copper marans hen to integrate with my chicks. It would be more expensive this way, about $35 but less hassle I think. The one I see on craigslist is 11 months old. Has anyone ever tried introduce one adult chicken to a flock of youngsters? I figure the adult will be the outcast but probably won't get too beat up by the little ones, and hopefully won't dish out too much because she'll be outnumbered. Depending on the response here, I was thinking buying her in week or two when they go out to the coop, that way I can house the new comer in the brooder (guinea pig cage) for some quarantine time before starting integration. If I quarantine her for a month the chicks will be 12 weeks old when I start integration.
Is a month too long for one chicken to be alone? Could I quarantine for less time? Would it be ok if I kept her in the cage but out in my yard so she could see her fellow new chickens? I really don't want to buy 2 as that's the point of buying an adult to begin with... not to mention the brooder isn't big enough for 2 full grown chickens. (about 3 sq feet)
Thanks for your help!
They are 5-6 weeks old right now. One silkie, a barred rock, and 2 cuckoo marans. The barred rock has turned out to be a roo, too bad he was really my favorite of the bunch. I really wanted the marans because of the dark eggs, but I've since learned that the cuckoo's don't lay as dark as the copper marans. I got all of these at a local feed store so I don't know what color eggs they hatched from, though the salesman told me they would lay chocolate colored eggs.Even before we found out the BR was a roo I wanted to add some copper marans but I'm not sure about the best way to go about it. I thought about getting some 2 week old birds and putting brooders next to each other, move the older birds out to the coop and keep the large brooder next to the coop on warm days until they were big enough to integrate. Though, the only ones for sale in my area are straight run only so I figure I'd have to buy 3 birds at least to ensure at least one female, then I'd have to downsize to 4-5 chickens at some point.
So then I started toying with the idea of buying 1 copper marans hen to integrate with my chicks. It would be more expensive this way, about $35 but less hassle I think. The one I see on craigslist is 11 months old. Has anyone ever tried introduce one adult chicken to a flock of youngsters? I figure the adult will be the outcast but probably won't get too beat up by the little ones, and hopefully won't dish out too much because she'll be outnumbered. Depending on the response here, I was thinking buying her in week or two when they go out to the coop, that way I can house the new comer in the brooder (guinea pig cage) for some quarantine time before starting integration. If I quarantine her for a month the chicks will be 12 weeks old when I start integration.
Is a month too long for one chicken to be alone? Could I quarantine for less time? Would it be ok if I kept her in the cage but out in my yard so she could see her fellow new chickens? I really don't want to buy 2 as that's the point of buying an adult to begin with... not to mention the brooder isn't big enough for 2 full grown chickens. (about 3 sq feet)
Thanks for your help!
