Mixing 6 week and 11 week chicks?

[efowl24]

I have 7 11 week old pullets, and I have a friend wanting to rehome his six week chicks. I only want one, who he says he believes is a rooster. (Hopefully he’s right, but it’s okay if he isn’t lol) would it be a bad idea to mix them at this age, or would they be similar enough in size? Would it be best to do an introductory period? How would I go about that?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

It depends on your setup. I just kind of threw my six week old cockerel in with my 10 week old pullets this time but I wouldn’t normally do that. It worked out for me. A see-no-touch for a couple weeks is better especially if you’re only doing one and because the size difference is probably noticeable. I also had a five week old pullet who got eaten because she wasn’t staying with the bigger birds so I am sure that if she’d been confined with them they would have picked on her.

If you have a dog kennel or similar that you can put near the run so they can all get used to each other that would be best for a couple weeks. Do you free range at all?

 

[SnackMeat]

Having more than one would be better. If there are multiple new chickens it's less likely for their to be bullying, especially if the numbers are close to even or if there are enough newcomers for any that might be picked on to get lost in the crowd.

At the very least I would do 2 but if you're open to it, all 6 would be the best idea.

Also depends on your older chickens. Since you haven't had younger chickens with them then the whole have them separated but seen would be good.