Mixing different age young birds

[MTP55]

There are a few varieties of chicken I wanted to add to our flock, but they won't be available until June from the hatchery. The plan was to raise them with the ten I currently have so they are only a week and a half apart. So if I continue to raise the current chicks and then raise another batch in June could they be integrated when the youngest batch is ready to come out of the brooder?

 

[lutherpug]

How far apart will they be in age? I integrated two groups of youngsters about a month apart and it wasn’t necessarily easy. I had an 8’ by 8’ space that I was able to divide in half so they had an extended period of “see, don’t touch”. It worked out eventually but it wasn’t much easier than a normal integration.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Maybe. I don't know what your facilities look like, how things are connected, or how big they are. I don't know your integration techniques. It sounds like they will be about two months or so apart in age. I don't know what age you will be ready to bring them out of the brooder. Lots of unknowns.

Each chicken has its own personality, each flock has its own dynamics. Those flock dynamics can change radically with just one chicken. What you are proposing may work really well but if you have one cold-blooded murderous brute in your older flock everything can change. You won't know if you do have one until you try.

My brooder is in the coop, so the chicks are basically raised with the flock. Many are raised by broody hens. I regularly turn five week old chicks raised in that brooder loose to roam with the flock with no issues. The broody hens might wean their chicks as young as 3 weeks, some might not until 3 months. The flock consists of a mature rooster, some mature hens, and often other juveniles of various ages, growing to butcher size. I have a lot of room. I'll say that again, my coop is big enough and with enough hiding places the chicks can avoid the adults and outside is never less than 60 square feet per chick or chicken, usually much more.

I'v never lost a chick to another adult. I had a 2 week old chick kill it's 2 week old sibling. I had a 15 week old cockerel kill another 15 week old cockerel. I had a 1 week old chick get into a pen of 8 week old chicks where the broody hen could not protect it so they killed it. It's not like they can't die, but this stuff can happen even if you do keep them separated.

I think having the rooster helps me some. I find juveniles are more dangerous than adults. Some people do exactly what you are talking about without problems, some people try it and chicks die. The more you can tell us about your situation and facilities the more likely we can give you specific suggestions for your unique situation, but that does not mean you get guarantees. We can help improve your odds of success.

Good luck!

 

[MTP55]

They will have a coop and run that is larger than they actually need, I keep one rooster in each flock. We keep different age flocks because we sell eggs with our produce and that way we never have a drast change in egg size/volume. The chicks I have now are probably about two weeks old, mixed breeds. Plus one small flock of RIR and Black Sex links that are pushing a year old and another flock of Cinnamon Queens that are about 8 months old. Each age group is separate as of right now, it seems easier to control any issues that might arise that way. They can all hear and see each other but can't interact. We could definitely keep them separated until they were acclimated to the slightly older birds.