Mixing Chicks of Different Ages

[LONDON HENS]

I have two 8 week old chicks and plan to put five or six 4-5week old chicks with them, would this work?

The older chicks had a hen bring them up, but she has lost interest in them and I will put her back with the laying hens when I get these five or six chicks who have been hatched in an incubator.

Do you think they will be Ok??

Thanks for any advice!

 

[heath_elisha]

Wondering the same.....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Maybe, maybe not. They are living animals. You can't really predict what will happen. A lot depends on their individual personality. Many people merge chicks those ages and have no problems at all. Sometimes it is a disaster. With living animals, just because something can happen does not necessarily mean it will happen.

I think a big key to how well it works in any integration is space. The 8 week olds will dominate the pecking order until the young ones mature. As long as the young ones have room to run away, it should be no problem at all. The tighter the space is, the higher the risk. But you will still find people that merge chicks that age and don't have problems, even in fairly tight places.

 

[CarolJ]

Maybe, maybe not. They are living animals. You can't really predict what will happen. A lot depends on their individual personality. Many people merge chicks those ages and have no problems at all. Sometimes it is a disaster. With living animals, just because something can happen does not necessarily mean it will happen.
I think a big key to how well it works in any integration is space. The 8 week olds will dominate the pecking order until the young ones mature. As long as the young ones have room to run away, it should be no problem at all. The tighter the space is, the higher the risk. But you will still find people that merge chicks that age and don't have problems, even in fairly tight places.

X2
I've integrated chicks with up to 4 weeks difference in age, and it has worked well. Space is a biggie - and make sure there are places for the little ones to hide. Then keep a close eye on them for the first couple days.

 

[Rachel96]

I've always been told that it's a bad idea if there's more than a week or so gap, because of the size difference.

BUT...

I think there's more to it than that. As Ridgerunner said, these are living animals with their own minds - you can't predict what will happen.

About a month, maybe six weeks ago, I had two 5-week-old cross-bred chicks that were ready to move out into the growing-out pen... which was already inhabited by five 9-week-old Sizzle chicks. They were in together for less than a minute before I discovered that it absolutely wouldn't work, AT ALL (vicious Sizzles!). The Sizzles were moved in with my sister's rabbits (where they lived quite happily for a few weeks), and the two cross-bred chicks moved into the growing-out pen.

Now, I have five 5-week-old chicks who are about ready to move into the growing-out pen (three are fully-feathered and should be out there all the time, 2 are still feathering out and need to come in at night as it's cold, so they're all coming in at night for the moment). I was anxious about introducing them to the cross-bred chicks (now about 10 weeks), and sat with them as they were introduced.

After the initial "What's this?!?!" from the older birds and the "It's so BIG out here!!!" from the younger birds, they got on quite happily. I watched them for a bit and when nothing happened, went away for a bit and checked up on them for the rest of the day. They're friends! Yay! Now the younger chicks go out during the day and come in at night. I've had no problems with them.

In short:

I think that numbers have a lot to do with it as well as size and age. If you have substantially more younger chicks than older, it evens the odds a bit.

Always watch carefully when you integrate two groups of chickens (or any other animal). Make sure there's no dangerous bullying or pecking going on (the odd tug at a tail or bit of down is fine!) and remove immediately if there is.

Good luck!
from Rachel.