Introducing Chicks to Adults

[barngem]

I am asking this question because
I have four 5 week old Sumatra chicks. They are getting big and they have been spending days outside in a large pen under a shade tree. I keep an eye on them from my kitchen window.
So today I decided to take them over to the chicken pen and put their large pen inside the chicken pen so that my two adult chickens a very good momma bantam bramah and a Old Engish Bantam rooster can get to know them. The hen hatched this rooster from an egg I brought home, she was very broody and I had no rooster so I brought her a fertile egg from a farm I worked on long story short she hatched the little rooser out on February 14 of last year. I have no idea how old she is I purchased her at the farm market.
The Sumatra chicks stayed in the chicken pen all day in their cage. I thought this might be a good way to introduce everyone. Plus as much as my other half loves the little boogers, he is wanting them out of the house as much as possible for now. Not sure why it matter to him since he is gone to work all day.

I then brought them back to the house for the night so they will be warm enough and I dont have another coop for them to use yet. I will be putting a small one in there for them when they are old enough to stay out all night at the pen. The temp at night has been as low as 45-50 the last week or so.
To quote the Hatchery info "Still as pure blooded today as when they were first disocovered on the remote island of Sumatra in the Far East. " So they are a pretty hardy bird, but they are babies none the less.

How old do they need to be before I let them loose with the other chickens?
How does that sort of thing usually go? Is this intro in the cage a good way to do this?

 

[becky3086]

I would wait until they are about full grown before putting them in with the others. I have put birds in that were younger with very bad results. I have used the cage in the pen method but I don't believe it really helped all that much. The best way I have found to introduce new birds (full grown or almost) is to put them in at night so that they all wake up together in the same cage, somehow the others think the new ones are supposed to be there if they wake up with them.

 

[barngem]

Gosh
I was thinking it would be easier than that. So much for thinking

 

[PIO-PIO]

I'm having this issue right now. I have 2 chicks that are 8wks old and have been putting them in a daytime kennel next to the 4 older girls(they are only about 22 wks now). I bring them in at night since I have only 1 coop. I tried to let them hang out together outside the "chick kennel" and the older hens went in attack mode. I felt so bad. this integrating thing is not so easy.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Oh no! I have 10 week olds (3) that are living in the coop. I put a screened off section (about 5x3) for my seven 5 week olds that I just put in the coop with the older "girls". I also have 5 two week olds in a brooder in the house. I was hoping in two weeks or so to have the two older groups integrated so that I could move the babies to the screened section of the coop. Will the size difference between the first 2 batches of chicks be too great? As a newbie, I sure started off wrong on getting my chicks in different batches. Ahhh, live and learn! But it has been fun having babies for so long!!

 

[kysilkies]

We are also having a tough time integrating a 2wk old silkie with 2 5wk old silkies...For the most part they ignore each other but often enough one of the big ones pecks the crap out of the lil one and we just can't watch it so we separated them until the lil gal is bigger...