Is it really THAT bad to mix age groups??

[MakNat]

I'm learning as I go. I incubated a couple times last summer, when it was hot out, and did great. I started again in Nov. So I have adults, 16 week olds, 12 week olds, 8, 4 and new peeps. They go to the main coop at 8 weeks, 12 when it was still cold. I have a brooder in the house and 2 brooder cages in the barn. At 6 weeks I open the brooders in the barn and let them run free. The main coop is about 50 ft. from the barn and everyone free ranges. So really the chicks get to mingle with the elders at a early age. I do notice sadly, that around 5% to 10% have problems. Various symptoms and no treatment has ever worked.. Ultimately they are culled....

Everyone else growns on up and are just fine. The first year I had chicks, I just let the hens do it all, I lost about 25% or so. That is before I knew about medicated starter. Maybe its a gamble, but I HATE trying to solve all the problems that pop up here and there. Is it normal to loose a small percentage no matter how they are raised??? Hens have always raised their chicks within the flock, so how can mixing ages be a factor to illness?? Just curious, I've been reading alot about that lately and wanted to hear some other opinions. Thanks!

 

[Zahboo]

I don't know about the illness part but I always tried to keep the same age groups because of the pecking order. The rooster can be harsh on the young ones too.

 

[kaddidle]

I've never heard of it causing illness and we used to do it all the time in our free ranging flocks that I had growing up. The only problem I could imagine would be if the chicks were from different sources since that could mean that one batch brought in an illness and passed it on to some of the other birds, but that wouldn't cause an issue in a closed flock.

That said, every time I've incubated eggs we've had some percentage of birds hatch out weaker than others and ultimately have to be culled. I've been fortunate to not ever have to deal with sickness [knock on wood] and have only lost birds do to culling weak ones or having accidental mishaps. I'm very interested to hear what others have to say though.