Mixing Chicks Together

[kgeorge]

Does anyone know if it would be okay to put 2-1/2 week-old chicks in with my 6-week-old RIB chicks?

 

[raspeary]

I ended up buying 4 chicks one saturday, they were estimated to be about 1 week old when bought. I went back the following morning and got two more, they were estimated to be about 1 day old.

The older chicks were bullies when I first put them in together. I ended up just seperating the brooder with a couple pieces of small wood for about 3 days. After that, I tried to put the chicks together again and they did fine all together. The younger ones didnt' take the bullying from the older chicks.

So I guess my point is, you should be ok, watch them close. You might need to separate for a few days.

I 'm new at this so there might be better answers than mine. All my chicks are doing good and getting along great!

 

[kgeorge]

Thanks. I feel as though they should be okay, too. I think I'll put them together tomorrow when I'm home all day and keep an eye on them.

 

[silverlining]

Good luck! I put in 3 EE chicks (age 3 days) in with my 3 Brahmas (age 2 weeks) and nobody picked on anyone...I added the big brahmas to the EEs one at a time though, about a minute apart, just to prevent any gang jumping the lil guys! That seemed to work well. That way they got to look at eachother for a few seconds without the instant mob-mentality from the big ones. My Brahmas are super gently giants though

 

[kgeorge]

Thank you. I'm going out right now to put them together.

 

[Sequin]

My husband put our dominant EE pullet(jury is technically still out on that verdict of pullet or roo, but I am thinking positive) in with our younger EE and BO chicks and it was quite confused and didn't know what to do. So it started eating and there were no problems. I think because the younger chicks out numbered the older chick(they are about 3 weeks apart). That was their first meeting and it lasted about 20 min. The second meeting was out on the lawn and the older ones kind of segregated themselves from the younger crowd but there weren't any problems. We just keep putting them out together and they seem to do just fine with each other.

I also recently added 2 day old chicks and 3 nearly 1 week old chicks in with my 2-3 week old BO's and the BO's ran for their lives. But they are all getting along now just fine. It is really funny watching a 3 wk old BO run away from a day old bantam!!! ha ha ha... guess they really Are chicken!!!

hee hee hee... I think you should be fine.

 

[the_great_snag]

This is good info.

I have two 2 1/2 week old meaties and will be receiving about 50 day olds on Monday. I am going to start with a partition in the brooder/coop, but I would like to eventually mix them all together.

My meaties seem to be easy going, as long as none of their mates step on them, but I'm more worried about the big fatties stomping on the newbies...

 

[missy1]

I have 5 4 day old female pullets and 5 1 week old ( i forgot the breed hehe) male chicks. The forgotten breed were the chickens (haha). The girls would bully on them. But they get along now.

 

[Sylvie72]

I put my day old chicks with my two week old chicks no separation. I supervised them, and to my surprise, no pecking was done, actually, the two week old chicks mother the day old ones and the babies follow the older ones all over, mingle and so on, its a happy family in the coop. Even my turkey is having fun with them. he is same age as my day old chicks wich are now 4 days.... really fun to watch them all... hope this helps you

 

[the_great_snag]

Quote:
Chickens can be a carrier for a disease called Blackhead which is fatal to turkeys. It's not generally recommended to keep them together.