Loud Mouth Baby!!!

[Yardbirds286]

I will be looking for a stuffed friend then. My goodness they are so cute! These are my first chicks ever, and I am still learning so much. I absolutely love having them!

 

[Yardbirds286]

What would you say about the chicks I am getting in a couple weeks? Three Buff Orpingtons and three Australorps. Separate brooder for a bit to make sure all are ok, or all together? They will be two weeks apart in age. Thank you so much for all the great advice. I will get some pictures on here soon.

 

[WildWalker]

These are all standard babies right?

I've personally had no problem raising chicks that are within maybe a week or two of each other. My first concern would be space, standards get so darn big so fast that if you don't plan accordingly they'll often get crowded and unintentionally hurt each other just trying to get around. In concerns to heating - I always try to put the brooder bulb on one side of the brooder to give them enough room to hangout where ever they're most comfortable, temp wise. I try to keep the water away from the brooder bulb so the water stays cooler and hot chicks can go over and take a cold drink to cool off. I usually put the feeder somewhere in between so everyone can get to it. That's just the way I personally do it.

Sometimes when people get new birds they keep them a separate for a while to make sure they don't have anything that could otherwise infect or harm their birds, though most chick starters you get now are pre-medicated and do a good deal to prevent that from happening. Your birds, your call though.

If you do decide to put them in there, they will get picked at a little, and possibly stepped on until the BR's figure it out and learn to be more considerate. Shouldn't last anymore then 3-4 days in my experience.

 

[Manda0227]

I'm new to chickens as well, and I got my first bunch in March.. and unexpectedly- I got 3 more sets of chicks all different ages.. 3 wks down to almost 1 week. What I did when I mixed them, since I was afraid of the newbies getting picked.. I took EVERYONE out of the brooder.. cleaned it out, new food, new water, and then put everyone back in. One older chick, one new, one older, one new... until they were all in. They honestly looked slightly confused- but happy to report NO altercations! When I had to put the next batch of younger ones in, I took out the more active older ones, and put them in a seperate brooder of their own. Each time I've used this method, it really seemed to work. I think your loud mouth will quiet down once there's more company- or not!! I have one that wouldn't shush unless he had a visual on me or my fiance!! He's 3 weeks, and it HAS stopped, but he still looks for us!!

 

[Yardbirds286]

Very good advice. Thanks guys. Yes, they are all standards. I have a large box as a brooder. So large that I have it sectioned off at the end for the two little ones so they could find food and water easier. I have the lamp at one end and the water at the other and the food in the middle just as suggested and it seems to be working out well. My little chatter box LOVES looking at herself, and now sleeps by the mirror. Once in a while though you can hear her voice her thoughts, but it seems better than last night. ( I am on my second pot of coffee however) LOL When the new babies come, I was going to open the other end of the brooder up so that the BR's could get to the cooler end if they wanted to away from the newborns.

I will take my BR's out and clean the brooder when they new ones arrive. Then put them all in one at a time until they are all together. This sounds like a great idea, hope it works.