Introducing Young Chicks to Older Chicks?

[colonelkluck]

Hey there. So I have four chickens currently. Two of them are about 3 1/2 months old and the other two are about two months. Before I really read much about introducimg them, I let the younger two meet the older ones and the older ones quite obviously decided they hate the younger two and attempted to attack them. After doing some more research, I realized this is the wrong approach and have kept th seperate. Now I am concerned with reitroducing them, as I would hate for anything bad to happen. What is the best way to assimilate them in to my flock? Is it too late now that the older chickens don't like them?

 

[colonelkluck]

Also, for back story, I originally started with three and lost one to a hole in the fence and the dog next door. The one I lost was the clear leader at the time.

 

[colonelkluck]

Bump for answers

 

[DaveOmak]

One site on u-tube, a young man who raises chickens swears by introducing, at 8 weeks of age, to the old flock, the new pullets... Put them in at night when everyone's asleep.... for him, it worked out the best... I will try to find his videos.... I watch all the videos and make notes on the important stuff..... victoryfarm..... check it out..... he puts up some very good videos and has explanations for everything he says... Seems logical to me and informative..... but then I don't know squat and am still trying to learn..... read everything and throw out what seems BS.... at least you can see what it being explained.... these videos helped me understand what I read on this great forum.... I guess I need input from several sources before the information penetrates my thick skull......

The thing with the forum, folks tell you what to do and don't explain, in detail, the WHY... I don't do well when just being told what to do......

Dave

victoryfarm

 

[Pooman]

Ive been doing this a bit recently. Currently have 4 groups, 3 of which being made into one.

They can all see each other through the fence, and have separate coops. When theynare old enough you just open the gates during the day and they mix up. A few weeks later you need to convince the group that is moving house, that is a good idea lol, usually done at night, i bung the little ones in a next box together. It seems to be working so far.

You can gauge when their ready quite quickly, if the young ones are at risk of losing eyes etc cause they arent (or cant) get out of the way well shoo the big ones out and give it more time. If theynare holding their own leave em to it, little chooks are quite agile.

One other thing, in the little ones coop, its a good idea to,have things the little chooks can hide under and get familiar with, so when the big chooks come storming in (and they will lol) they can find a hiding spot easily.

 

[EastTXChickens]

We are integrating our first flock of 8 eleven week old chicks with 6 eight week old chicks right now. The new flock arrived at dusk a few days ago and went into the new coop, we placed them on the lower second of two roost.

Outside, the next day, there was concern from the established flock and rushing/charging action but that's about it. All of them free range during the day and are in two groups, but do swap territories throughout the day.

At night the older flock coops up well before dark then the new flock settles in just prior to night fall. It's interesting that the older chicks exit first from the top roost in the mornings while the newer flock waits on the lower and forward staggered roost before exiting.

Of note is that one of the new chicks did roost right in the middle of the established flock on the top roost the second night. Other than that, as far as I know, they are two separate flocks. I hope they merge but won't sweat it if they don't.