mixing 3wo chicks w/ 1 wo chicks??

[lovethepeep]

i have seven 2 week old chicks in a brooder, i just found 2 more breeds i'd love to add to this flock. the new ones would be 1 wk. has anyone ever mixed chicks this far apart in age? what do you think...

 

[the1much]

i mix them all the time,, once in a great while theres an older 1 that picks on the youngers,, but not very often,, and then we remove the "problem" 1 from the others.

 

[lovethepeep]

do you think it will be easier to add them now, versus in the spring... getting chicks, then adding them at 6-7 weeks- to full grown hens?

 

[SunAngel]

I have 13-3 week old chicks and just added 5 little Silkie chicks in with them last week. They didnt seem to care or notice. Noone picked on the new tiny guys and they all get along fine.

I am having more problems getting the big girls (4 month olds) to accept the 3 - 2 month olds I just put in with them. They aren't being overly mean, but they do chase them out in the run. So the younger ones tend to hang out in the coop most of the day.

ETA: My 3 week olds, will be bumped to a bigger coop w/ a run in a couple days and 14 new day olds will be put in with the little Silkies when they arrive from Ideal. My little chicks don't seem to mind change, seems they like having more stuff to explore.

 

[hinkjc]

Mixing them when they are younger goes a lot easier than when they are older. I'd say go ahead and put em in. I just merged two brooders from 3-4 different hatch dates (each at least a week apart). No one seems to care. There was a little tussle with the cockerels the first few minutes and then they all went about their business.

Jody

 

[the1much]

yes i think it will be LOTS easier now then later.i think some may say different, but ive gone through THOUSANDS of babies this year,every week getting new babies, and i mix them from 1 week to 2 months old. alot say not too,,but like i said,, i havent had any problems.i wouldnt mix a week old with a 3 or 4 month old though,, but when their only a few weeks apart, there really isnt much difference in them.Just keep an eye on the youngest "runt"

 

[Shogun99]

I'd mix them together. I mixed 2x 2 week olds with my 3 day old chickies and they all live in harmony now. They all work well together and while the others are still a bit smaller, they don't get pecked any more.

 

[toddntiff]

Make sure you plenty of waterers and feeders available so when the little guys get bullied out they have a place to turn to! We had a little runt not make it because of this and had I known to watch a little more closely for this I would have been able to save her!!!

 

[cmom]

I agree with the previous posts. I think it is easier to mix them earlier than later. They haven't gotten really into establishing a pecking order so much yet, and they probably haven't started belly bumping yet.