Introducing chicks to existing flock??

[Chirpy]

2468Chickensrgr8 wrote:

So Chirpy do you think I would be okay to let my mama chicken and her four babies go into the rest of the flock...they all have seen each other since day one....

I let my momma and her chick with the rest of the flock when the chick was two weeks old. Before that, they were just separated by a chain link fence. They are together all day, every day now. However, I still lock momma and chick up in the rabbit hutch at night and not in the coop with the other adults as I'm still afraid that the chick would have nowhere to get away if several of the adults went for her inside. Even momma can't protect from multiple attacks if baby can't run away to a safe place.

Trudy - I personally just don't have the experience to be able to give you good advice. I hope someone here that has done this will see this thread and respond. I do know that smaller chicks almost always lose when trying to intro them to larger chicks. But, I've heard of people saying they've done it ...​

 

[HenniePennie]

Last year I got several chicks at about 3 weeks old. I also had 4 girls that were just laying so they were about 5 to 6 months old. I put the 'babies' in my shed and when they were about half the size of the big girls during the day I opened the shed and one end of the fenced area I kept the babies in. With opening it up on one end the babies were able to leave the shed & they chose on their own when they joined the big girls in the hen house.
This year I got a BR 4 week old & didn't want her to be alone to bought a 4 day old NHR. I rubbed the NHR all over the BR the NHR then thought that the BR was her mommie. They are now named 'lil Mama & Sassy. They are 10 weeks and 6 weeks old now. I opened the same end of fencing in the shed & 'lil mamma & sassy are outside freeranging in the back yard with the big girls but still sleep in the shed.
I also just bought my turkeys which I have in a container in the shed. I bought 2 EE's at 3 days old & had them in another container. My white silkie has been broody off & on for a year so I put her in with the EE's after rubbing them on her to get her scent & she is a happy mommie now. As the EE's get older I will let Frenchie the silkie decide when she wants to bring her babies [named Flopsie & Mopsie] out to introduce them to the other big girls.
If you take babies & rub them all over older girl so they smell like her she should take them to raise & protect them from the other older chickens. However it doesn't work with all breeds. Some hens are just natural mommies and others are not. So just check out the different breeds on other sites & see what their personalities tend to be. Silkies are great brooders and they don't care whose eggs they set on.

I hope this helps!