I've Got It Bad Introducing New Chicks

[chayton]

Just had a very successful hatch of Black Copper Marans and Ameracunas. My grand daughter (and I, cant cast all the blame on her) would like to start another batch.

If we do hatch another dozen or so eggs will we have any trouble introducing the new chick in with the ones we just hatched, they will be approx one month old when the new ones hatch.

Is this asking for trouble, how old should the new hatch be before they are placed with older chicks, any warnings or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

 

[juliachick]

I am for sure no expert but we did successfully introduce and blend chicks of various ages this past spring. Our first group we got as day olds in Feb then ended up hatching several batches ourselves and adding in more from the farm store (we had a problem going in for feed and coming out w/new adorable chicks). We introduced slowly. We had two brooders right next to each other so they could see each other (a guinea pig cage and an aquarium). Once or twice we had to take some out because they'd get picked on but would just wait a bit and put them together later on. They are all together now and have been since summer. We had too many roosters (with hatching you get lots of both) so have recently started having fighting issues and had to separate. We will butcher the extra roos. It's funny that they still tend to stay in little groups w/their original brooder mates when out free ranging. We have a new issue now because a hen just decided to sneak off and make a nest under our deck and has now hatched a few chicks. It's winter here and not sure what to do. I will post and try to get some advice myself.