introducing 2 day olds with 2 week olds

[funnyfoshay]

Tomorrow I am getting 4 replacement chicks for 4 that died from shipping stress- hopefully this 4 will will survive shipping!!.

I have 2 chicks that are a week old, these survived shipping.
1 EE in great shape lots of energy, trying to fly a bit. 1 light brahma who is our tiniest and had a very sore butt for a few days (I attached a photo) which is healing up but she still seems to lack energy compared to her sisters. She eats less and spends more time under the "Hover Heater" warmer.

I also have 2 Barred Rocks that I got from the feed store which are probably about 2 weeks old. These 2 girls are thriving, high energy chicks eating constantly.

My question is how to integrate the new babies and keep everyone safe?

 

[funnyfoshay]

ps pasty butt is fixed with prep H and vaseline treatments but today I am worried that maybe she ate too much Prep H or vaseline and is now sick When you lose more than half your chicks in the first 3 days you kinda worry!!

 

[RidgeCreekFarm]

Hello!
We are very new at this (got our first ever chicks last Friday), but we have a similar age gap with our chicks. We got 9 chicks that were 2 weeks old and under and a few days later picked up 3 two day old Light Brahmas!

I came on and got some great advise:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/2-week-brooding-age-gap.1236607/

The short answer for us was to try it, but have a backup plan ready!

We put the little Brahmas in with the others and carefully watched them for over an hour and then periodically checked them after that. One of the little ones waddled straight up to the biggest Speckled Sussex and bossed her right out of her spot! It's been over 2 days and all is well- the bigger ones snuggle the little ones, let them have access to the feeder and waterer, and every one seems happy!

Just today one of the little Brahmas developed Pasty Butt, but since I cleaned her up around 6 hours ago, she's been fine! I just used Vaseline, I'm afraid I don't know anything about Prep H and chicks.

I hope this helps! Our backup plan for if things went south, was to devise a divider to protect the new chicks. We still have the Hardware Cloth ready and waiting just in case; and I still keep a close eye on their interactions.

Blessings!

 

[Sutherlandfarms]

Try and make sure your heat lamp is set correctly because it can exacerbate pasty butt I introduced 4 baby silkies to 10 one week old chicks and they integrated beautifully. Now I just got seven babies this week and they are in a separate breeder but they are also standards and the original chicks are bantams. I’ll try to integrate soon but waiting as the original chicks are two weeks now

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not use Prep H on a chick. Any thing you put on a chick is apt to be eaten. So far as I know, Prep H is not edible. You may need to separate the new chicks for a few days until they get strong. I'm concerned about your little Brahma. sounds like she may be a failure to thrive chick. Do you have Poultry Nutri Drench? I would give that to them immediately in their water (1 tsp/qt) The little Brahma can get a drop full strength.

 

[JesusHChicken]

One of those situations you'll have to experiment. I added 1.5 week old chicks with day old chicks and everyone got along fine. Just watch for serious pecking by the bigger ones.

 

[Rosypetals]

You will want to keep your chickens apart until they are about the same size, because the older ones will kill the weak ones. Good luck!

 

[funnyfoshay]

I would not use Prep H on a chick. Any thing you put on a chick is apt to be eaten. So far as I know, Prep H is not edible. You may need to separate the new chicks for a few days until they get strong. I'm concerned about your little Brahma. sounds like she may be a failure to thrive chick. Do you have Poultry Nutri Drench? I would give that to them immediately in their water (1 tsp/qt) The little Brahma can get a drop full strength.

my sweet little brahma died about 2 hours after our new babies arrived- stressful morning! I was able to integrate them all peacefully and they all look happy together and adorable.

 

[lazy gardener]

Glad the new ones are doing well. When you showed that pic, I figured that chick was living on borrowed time.