Mixing babies with adults? Tired of cleaning out the brooder!!

[ksmith]

I have 10, 1 year old hens. I just recently bought 4 chicks and 2 ducklings. The ducklings are about 5 weeks, and the chicks 7 weeks. The brooder is constantly dirty and yucky!! tired of it...

 

[ksmith]

When can I mix them together??

 

[jarvis]

takin out the ducklings will help alot ... ducks make way nastyier cages than chicks .. ( personal expriance)
also .. baby ducks ( and big ) have a tendancy to eat tail feathers off the chickens .... (brats) dunno why they do it but they do ..

maybe makin a seperate outside pen for the ducklings ?? ( they will grow super fast ...)

 

[mrszlopez]

I agree ^^^ about the dirty ducks lol.

I have a batch of 3 month old pullets that im going to be merging with my older hens this wknd.

You should introduce them, let them play together or in pens directly next to each other for a few days & then make the move ! good luck !

 

[JulieNKC]

Mine went out in a cage in the big coop at 8 weeks. They stayed in there a week and have been out the last couple of weeks with the big girls and doing fine. Mine also have a 2 acre fenced in yard they free range on during the day though, so they had plenty of room to get away if necessary, although the little ones have been sticking closer and closer to the big girls.

 

[ksmith]

Quote:
I have been letting them out a couple of hours a day and they are separated from the adults but can still see each other and peck at each other through it.

 

[ksmith]

Quote:
Great idea. I have a coop for the adults and a smaller coop/brooder for the babies. I think I will try to mix them together in a couple of weeks.