Introducing Big Groups of Different Breeds of 3 Week-Old Chicks?

[Missoula Chicken Lady]

In our greenhouse, I have four brooders full of four different heritage breeds of chicks - about 60 chicks in each brooder. I am hoping to mix them together in our hoophouse in a week or so - when they are about 3 and a half weeks old - has anyone out there introduced this many chicks to each other?

They're going to need to get used to each other, since they will be grazing together on our farm.

Please let me know what your experiences or thoughts are!

 

[debilorrah]

Are the visible to each other, close to each other already? If so you should have no trouble other than normal pecking order stuff...

 

[wings]

I don't have any advice but GOOD LUCK!

I'll be watching for pictures...

 

[Missoula Chicken Lady]

Debiraymond -

They are not visible to each other, because each of their brooders has a 18" border of cardboard around the bottom, but they can hear each other because they're all in the greenhouse.....

The move is next week - our farm needs the greenhouse space for seedlings, so it's time for them to move on to the hoophouse, where we'll unite them!

 

[Missoula Chicken Lady]

Just an update for anyone else who is raising lots of chicks, and needs to introduce them to each other, after they've been in separate brooders:

The intros went just fine. A few days before we moved them in together, we removed the cardboard from the little brooders so they could see each other. Very funny to watch them watch each other.

The move was successful, all 250 are cohabitating relatively peacefully. The Brahmas and Wyandottes kind of stay at one end, and the Orps and Dominiques on another, but there are no gang fights or anything.

Thank goodness. They were 4 weeks old when I introduced them, so I think that they were young enough it wasn't a big deal.