is this a good way to introduce chicks?

[five is my dog]

hello! i promise i actually have a question.

i have 6 hens and one very protective roo. i just got 5 new chicks. the chicks are about 6 weeks old and fully feathered. right now they are living in a brooder ( for about 2 days now ) and its kinda cramped. they met my chickens today! but through chicken wire. i dont want them to be so cramped so since i always put my chickens out to free range every day i put the chicks in the pen. my older chickens didnt really care except when i gave the chicks some food. then they were jealous!

. my roo is pretty new as well i got him about a week ago. i wanted to put the babys in the brooder in the house at night. so they can see them and hear them but not get to them. and finally my question is this a good idea?

 

[troy4]

well try to put the babbies in the big cage where the big ones use to live in put them somewhere else and then everyday put one big chicken in there with them in everday. in they will be together

 

[troy4]

now i'm warning you they will all peck them because their at the bottom of the pecking order list as in they will all take shots at the new hens

 

[cafarmgirl]

hello! i promise i actually have a question.

i have 6 hens and one very protective roo. i just got 5 new chicks. the chicks are about 6 weeks old and fully feathered. right now they are living in a brooder ( for about 2 days now ) and its kinda cramped. they met my chickens today! but through chicken wire. i dont want them to be so cramped so since i always put my chickens out to free range every day i put the chicks in the pen. my older chickens didnt really care except when i gave the chicks some food. then they were jealous!

. my roo is pretty new as well i got him about a week ago. i wanted to put the babys in the brooder in the house at night. so they can see them and hear them but not get to them. and finally my question is this a good idea?

Well it won't hurt but what they really need is for the older birds to get used to seeing them around in the daytime, all day, every day. When I had only one coop I would section off part of the run for the youngsters and they spent all day out there from the age of 5 weeks, they need to have a small coop or other shelter available of course. Now I have a grow-out pen and coop right alongside my older birds. Chicks go into that at 5 weeks old and stay there until they are around 15 weeks old, the same size as the older birds. Then I start letting them out to free range in the pasture together. By that time they are old news and pecking order issues are extremely minor.

 

[troy4]

It would be a close good idea but not good enough no offense.

 

[SobbaChickens]

There is no way to tell how the chickens/roo will handle the chicks, they might be great together or they might kill the chicks :/ Allowing them to see and hear each other without physically being together is the best way to go in my opinion. And at 6wks the chicks are still pretty small, I'd wait to let them together until their sizes are closer to the same. But they will have to redo the pecking order no matter what

 

[SobbaChickens]

It would be a close good idea but not good enough no offense.

What is a good idea but not good enough?

 

[Roodey]

hello! i promise i actually have a question.

i have 6 hens and one very protective roo. i just got 5 new chicks. the chicks are about 6 weeks old and fully feathered. right now they are living in a brooder ( for about 2 days now ) and its kinda cramped. they met my chickens today! but through chicken wire. i dont want them to be so cramped so since i always put my chickens out to free range every day i put the chicks in the pen. my older chickens didnt really care except when i gave the chicks some food. then they were jealous!

. my roo is pretty new as well i got him about a week ago. i wanted to put the babys in the brooder in the house at night. so they can see them and hear them but not get to them. and finally my question is this a good idea?

The key is how your rooster handles them. In general a rooster doesn't care a wink about chicks until the mother has given them up. So if he's going to accept them as part of the pecking order then they will integrate. But if he thinks they're too small and tries to really go after them it's too soon. 6 weeks is possible, for a bigger breed, what kind of birds?

 

[SobbaChickens]

Well it won't hurt but what they really need is for the older birds to get used to seeing them around in the daytime, all day, every day.  When I had only one coop I would section off part of the run for the youngsters and they spent all day out there from the age of 5 weeks, they need to have a small coop or other shelter available of course.  Now I have a grow-out pen and coop right alongside my older birds.  Chicks go into that at 5 weeks old and stay there until they are around 15 weeks old, the same size as the older birds.  Then I start letting them out to free range in the pasture together.  By that time they are old news and pecking order issues are extremely minor. 

 

[five is my dog]

well try to put the babbies in the big cage where the big ones use to live in put them somewhere else and then everyday put one big chicken in there with them in everday. in they will be together

thanks the only problem with this is that my chickens are free rangers. the pen we have is rather small because i only keep them in their untill all lay and thats about an hour (not including night).