Introduction of new chicks

[chickslovinmama]

Hello,
We have 2 1 yr old silkies and we have 5 7 we old silkie chicks. We put our oldest 2 in a wire pet pen and the 5 younger ones in another so that they all could see one another and maybe start getting introduced. The older 2 just squawk like crazy the whole time. We tried holding them and showing them the babies but that didnt stop the squawking. Is this normal and will they stop eventually? The baby chicks are all squeaking of course because I think they're scared of the noise from the older two. Not sure if we're doing this right or not. They will all eventually need to get along and be one cohesive flock hopefully. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Mrs. K]

Keep the older birds in the pet pen, take it out of the run. Instead of introducing either new chicks or new birds to a flock, I have found it much more effective to introduce the new birds TO THE COOP AND RUN.

When birds are moved into a new space, they are very intimidated and unsure. A lot of times, people also add the older birds and have a wreck. By removing the older birds to a different place, this allows the newbies to explore the new set up without being chased for their lives. Being chased in a strange place is terrorizing. Explore a new place allows them to gain some territorial rights.

Then say on day 3 - bring the old birds back, and let them see the new birds in the coop/run, feed along the fence, and as close to dark as possible, let them back into the coop/run. Leave the pop up open that night, have some hideouts set up, and multiple feed stations. Do it when you can keep a close eye for a day or two.

I also have a place in my run, that allows the chicks to escape too that the bigs can't follow. A wind block, with a fence about 5 inches off the ground works well for me.

Mrs K

 

[chickslovinmama]

Keep the older birds in the pet pen, take it out of the run. Instead of introducing either new chicks or new birds to a flock, I have found it much more effective to introduce the new birds TO THE COOP AND RUN.

When birds are moved into a new space, they are very intimidated and unsure. A lot of times, people also add the older birds and have a wreck. By removing the older birds to a different place, this allows the newbies to explore the new set up without being chased for their lives. Being chased in a strange place is terrorizing. Explore a new place allows them to gain some territorial rights.

Then say on day 3 - bring the old birds back, and let them see the new birds in the coop/run, feed along the fence, and as close to dark as possible, let them back into the coop/run. Leave the pop up open that night, have some hideouts set up, and multiple feed stations. Do it when you can keep a close eye for a day or two.

I also have a place in my run, that allows the chicks to escape too that the bigs can't follow. A wind block, with a fence about 5 inches off the ground works well for me.

Mrs K

They're not in the coop or run at the moment, the babies are too little still and the temps are too low at night. The older ones are in one wired pet pen and the babies are in another pet pen. They are not together, but they can see each other and all the older ones do is squawk their heads off until we move the babies back to the brooder. So not sure what's going on or if it's just because the 7 wk old chicks are smaller and the older ones don't like it.

 

[chickslovinmama]

Hello,
We have 2 1 yr old silkies and we have 5 7 we old silkie chicks. We put our oldest 2 in a wire pet pen and the 5 younger ones in another so that they all could see one another and maybe start getting introduced. The older 2 just squawk like crazy the whole time. We tried holding them and showing them the babies but that didnt stop the squawking. Is this normal and will they stop eventually? The baby chicks are all squeaking of course because I think they're scared of the noise from the older two. Not sure if we're doing this right or not. They will all eventually need to get along and be one cohesive flock hopefully. Any advice would be appreciated.

We're still having issues. One of our older ones doesnt really seem to care if the younger ones are around but the other one just squawks her head off if she sees or hears them the younger ones are about 12 weeks old and we really need to get them together. I'm at a complete loss. We dont know what else to do or know why the older one just squawks when the younger ones are around.