Introducing week old chicks to new chicks..................advice PLEASE

[coxm3]

I have 3 chicks that are 5 and 6 days old. I have just hatched 11 more and still hatching. I tried to put the oldest new chick in with the 3 week old chicks. One promptly flocked the younger one and I put him back in the bator (he was only 12 hours). How do I go about introducing the new chicks to the week old ones? Should I put more of the new ones in at one time? I have 8 that are ready to go in the brooder because they are 24 hours old. I do not have the means to operate 2 brooder boxes.

 

[1655ot]

The only way to keep them in the same brooder is to put in some kind of divider to keep them separated. Or according to what kind of brooder you have, make a "brooder" inside of the existing brooder to keep the young ones protected.

 

[ECBW]

Are the older ones really attacking?

I have added chicks from different batches and different ages. They seem to have no pecking order or territory issues at that young age. They will jump around more like playing than killing.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Wow, even at that young age they arent easily accepting of eachother? I have three 8 1/2 week olds Im trying to introduce to two 4 week olds, and Im having trouble with the Roo attacking the babes. I thought maybe I had waited to long to add new chicks, but I guess I would have had the trouble at anytime.

I have my younger chicks in a Cat carrier in the coop at night, and an XPEN in the run during the day, oping the exposure will make them like eachother. Could you put a small cat carrier in your brooder?

 

[Chickadee707]

We got a batch of 9 babies last week and put them in their little brooding tote, we got them from their wild mother not too long after they hatched so there was no separation problems.

Then yesterday, I was walking outside and noticed another wild hen with 10 more babies! So I occupied her with food and picked her babies up. Are Ameraucanas poor mothers? Because she didn't care or notice her babies were missing!

We immediately put them in with the week old babies. Our older ones dont peck or bully the small ones, they just look at them like theyre crazy for crying all the time. But as babies do, they occasionally peck randomly at one another.

 

[coxm3]

Humm.......I am going to try it again today. I have 8 babies that will be 24 hours or a bit older this afternoon. I will try putting all 8 of them in with the others. The one that jumped on the smaller one yesterday may indeed have been trying to play. It just freaked me out so much that I took her back out as she was a little young. The bater is exploding with babies today! 8 yesterday at 6:00, 11 this morning at 8:00!

 

[coxm3]

HOLY MOLY! I just quit counting! I've been home today with a sick child and briefly went to school to check on the chicks kindergarten was hatching for me. There were chicks EVERYWHERE! I don't know how many I put in the brooder with the 3 weeks old chicks I took back to school yesterday. But let me tell you ALL those new chicks have overwhelmed my 3 weeks old ones. You could almost see the thoughts in their head asking, "where in the world did all these chicks come from!" Love it! Still more hatching (about 4) and still babies in the bater not ready to come out. They are gorgeous! All different breeds and mixes!

 

[coxm3]

3 week old chicks (and not actually a week old until tomorrow). Not 3 weeks old. 3 chickens that are a week old.

 

[coxm3]

Ended up with 24 gorgeous babies total. They get along fine all together!