introducing new birds

[chubbiechicken]

Whats the best way to put my new chickens together? I have (4) 8wk and (4) 3wk old chicks.

 

[sumi]

They should be fine together. Young chicks are generally not aggressive, but if you can distract them with some treats when you do the introduction it'll help.

 

[ECBW]

I would just put them together and see. When they are very young, they are very accepting. They get more territorial as they age. I have added new younger birds to 5-week olds with no problem. They are now 12-week olds and are not as friendly.

If they are not accepting, then you might need to keep them separated until the younger catch up in size.

 

[OurLittlebitRanch]

SInce there are a few of the younger ones I would think they will be fine together. Just keep an eye on the to make sure that they aren't doing any damage. Once they are feathered out mine usually end up in with all ages up to about 12 weeks.

Even the young ones might peck at each other a bit, establishing the "pecking order". They usually don't do this until they are quit a bit older but some breeds will at a young age. This is normal, don't worry if it happens, just make sure they aren't "hurting" each other.

 

[chubbiechicken]

so happy they did just great!

 

[CAjerseychick]

Good to hear-- we are getting 3 week olds tommorrow and day olds in 2 weeks so I figure that we will be mixing 9week olds with month olds or 10 weeks olds with 5 weeks olds... They are Jersey Giants I dont know if that matters....

 

[chubbiechicken]

Thats about the same age as ours..We let ours out about an hr or so before dark and fed dried meal worms out of our hands for about 3-4 days and then just put them all in the coop together.. Older ones were good!

 

[OurLittlebitRanch]

Good to hear-- we are getting 3 week olds tommorrow and day olds in 2 weeks so I figure that we will be mixing 9week olds with month olds or 10 weeks olds with 5 weeks olds... They are Jersey Giants I dont know if that matters....

5 weeks shouldn't make much difference once they are feathered out. I would not suggest putting the day old chicks in with chicks that are 5 weeks old, they might not fight but they very well could smother them. I have 4 week old pullets mixed in with nearly 4 month old pullets and have yet to have a problem.