Mixing 1 day old chicks with 1 week old chicks?

[DesertGrrl]

Is it safe to mix chicks that are 1 week olds with 1 day olds?
I only have 1 heat plate and 1 brooder.

 

[CNJ]

Is it safe to mix chicks that are 1 week olds with 1 day olds?
I only have 1 heat plate and 1 brooder.

I did it before, I used a small round plastic screen with a cover and placed the day old chick inside and watched how the other chicks behaved. The other chicks weren't aggressive, so I left them in over night and removed the screen to see if there were any violence and they seem fine, so I left them in and they grew up together.

I think it depends on their size, I am having trouble with two new chicks being placed with chicks twice as big and feathered out. The feathered chick, looks like a male, and is very aggressive. He constantly attacks and terrifies the smaller chicks. They will die if I leave them together. I still keep them together in the yard but have them in their own secured space, where they can see each other. At night, I put them back in the brooder. But I keep the aggressive male by himself at night with out any heating because he has feathers and its warm where I live.

I notice that the smaller chicks sleep far away from the dimmed light at night, but end up under it in the early morning when it gets cold. I will add a heating pad for the lone chick, now that I think about it.

You may need a heat lamp to keep the chicks warm. If its cold the heating pad may not be enough.

This is a picture of what I used, to observe them. The aggressive chick knocked it over and bloodied up the smaller chick.

 

[mcdze]

i just had that situation with my latest hatch .. the day olds need to be steady on their feet and they'll be alright, takes 12 hours or so .. if theyre still at the point theyre wobbly and crawling the older ones will pick at them and might actually hurt them so put a piece of wire to seperate the new ones into a warm corner for awhile until theyre moving around good, they wont need food or water for awhile so it will be simple ....

 

[CNJ]

This is what I use outside, the bigger chick was still aggressive this morning, but he seem to be mellowing out, maybe another week or not:

 

[DesertGrrl]

I just mixed the chicks yesterday and at first the older chicks were kinda bullying the young ones, but everything smoothed out.
One of the younger chicks is a mean one: it's pecking at everyone's eyes in the brooder.
I put a shiny can of soup (I just took the label off) and I hope that helps a little.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is it safe to mix chicks that are 1 week olds with 1 day olds?

I've found that this depends a lot on the individual chicks. Sometimes you can mix chicks with even wider age differences without problems, sometimes it's a disaster. I had one 2-week-old chick kill a hatchmate and sibling while being raised under a broody hen. The same age and had been raised together for two weeks.

Each chicken has its own personality. That's part of why we like them so much. But it also means you can't tell how a living animal will behave in a certain circumstance. Is it totally absolutely 100% of each and every time safe to mix those chicks? No, it is not. Will it work? Maybe.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Last year, I got chicks at a Tractor Supply, and they were different ages. I had those chicks set up in a spare bathroom, in the bathtub cushy with woodflakes & some towels I changed & washed daily, to snuggle with (drain covered with duct tape) & I heated the entire bathroom. I made 2 things from scrap wood, the smaller chicks could run under, if they needed shelter. I can't find them right now to photograph but they resemble this idea, the thing my glasses are on in the photo. Envision a piece of plywood on 2x4 sides and another a little taller with 2x6 sides. When I relocated them to a different room as they grew, I placed a few cinderblocks in there, on their sides, and lined the holes with towel, so the smaller chicks actually ran into the cinderblock holes and snuggled. There really wasn't much squabbling by then though, as they were growing up together & those were sweet natured birds anyway.

 

[CNJ]

I just mixed the chicks yesterday and at first the older chicks were kinda bullying the young ones, but everything smoothed out.
One of the younger chicks is a mean one: it's pecking at everyone's eyes in the brooder.
I put a shiny can of soup (I just took the label off) and I hope that helps a little.

I had one like that in a pair of newly hatched Lemon Orpingtons. The smaller one kept pecking the bigger one's eye lids, but did not draw blood. He use to push the bigger one with his head to go check out the food and water on the opposite end of the heating pad. They became attached to each other. If I took one out with out the other, both of them would not stop crying.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

in addition to possible individual behavior problems, you should look also to breed for significant size disparities. I made the mistake of getting birds in two batches, a week apart. Ducks and CornishX in the first batch. Comets and Rainbows in the second. They could have crushed the little birds in second batch (regretfully, I think they probably did in one case), having put on so much weight in their first week of growth, before I had the thought to add a temporary fence and split my brooder box roughly in half.

 

[Jabebee13]

Correct. I got day old guineas with week old guinea
So far they are doing fine. They a
Established a pecking order as kindly but more so accepted the new babies. Hopefully same for you. Desert girl.