Mixing flock of different age group?

[laputa]

CAWooduck is very nice to offer me some of his half a year adult hens for free!

The thing is now I need to sort out their housing with what I already got.

My current cage has 6 young hens that are 6 weeks old (they are offspring of these adults). The cage is 8 square feet (outdoor plus the nest box area).

I now have a decision to make: Either put a few more inside, then construct a smaller cage to hold the rest adult ones, which saves precious yard space for me; or construct a bigger cage for the adults.

Any one have success mixing two groups of different age in the same cage before?


Yesterday I did try to put my 3 week old rooster in the bigger cage since I thought he was lonely, but then maybe the rooster never saw any other quails before, instead of being happy, he started to run around in the cage like crazy in a panic mode, and that kind of panic quickly affected the rest, and all hens become panic and start to jump around, as if what I put in was a cat or something. Eventually one starts to pick on another, then pick on the rooster. So I had to take it out.

Would it be different though if what I put in is some more adult hens (some are their mommy to be honest lol)?

I am trying to be cautious, but meanwhile did not want to make a large cage (mainly space reason) if I can do fine with what I have plus making a smaller one.

Thank you for any input!

 

[First To Hatch]

I wouldn't suggest it but I've heard of people who have.... you shouldn't really mix together birds from different hatches.

 

[monarc23]

I didn't read the whole thing (sorry watching a movie hehe) but from what i get you're asking if you can mix these hens with your already established flock. Yes you can. IF they are breeding age then the only issues you will deal with is the first introduction....normally teh roos want to mate the intruders as soon as they step foot in and the original hens get annoyed and chatter and sometimes cause a stir if this happens theres a few things you can do (Remove the aggressor for a few days, trim the aggressors beak just the tip ...may bleed a bit but wont kill it and will grow back, or cull the aggressor). You also have to make sure the roo to hen ratio is correct. 1 roo to 5 hens, iin a communial pen, say theres 20 hens, 4 roos will do well. Any more hens per roo and the fertility drops... any less hens per a communial thing of roos and you can experience scalpings.

Theres no problems mixing birds from different hatches except for getting over the introduction hurtle and making sure the ratio is sound theres no issue with it. Ofcourse make sure the new birds aren't ill which it's a good idea to always quarrentine them for atleast 2 weeks if you can....however, coming from Cawooduck i highly doubt you need to

I have coturnix from teh same breeder he got his original flock from...i assure you the breeder they came from (his original flock) are healthy

I mix ages and hatches all the time, I just follow the ratio and supervise and don't ignore aggression.

ETA: mixing hatches is also a good way to keep bloodlines strong (dilluting the inbreeding).

 

[laputa]

Thank you so much for the great tips Niki.

I will be mixing two flocks of 100% hens so mating shouldn't be a concern for me. I have 6 6-week olds already, which are the offspring of the adult group I will be getting (half-year old hens). Since I only want to keep them for eggs so I will not be getting any rooster.

The only rooster I got right now is the little one I hatched, and unfortunately he didn't seem to mix in well in my first attempt. I may try again sometime in the future when he is a little older.

I was mainly worried about if the quails can be territorial, and then when there is a size difference (the 6 weeks old would be smaller than the half year olds), whether the bigger ones will bully the smaller ones. I know some animals can be very territorial, like my fish lol, they can fight all day long. But sounds like that isn't a concern for these quails as long as I take care of the introduction part.

CAWooduck gave me a tour of his flock before I got the first batch of the young hens, so I know they are all very healthy.

So when I mix the two groups, do you think it is a good idea to mix them all at once, or introduce the second group one at a time to the first group?

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
I honestly try to mass introduce as much as I can. This way that say you have one batch of just 5 hens to put in, and another batch of 10 to put in (just choosing numbers lol) I'd throw ALL 15 in. This way the original pen hens aren't just picking on one chick. First sign of aggression pin point the aggressor and I'd take her out because she will get other original gals to join in. (i've never seen the whole pen join in but it could happen). Aggression seems to only last about a half hour as long as you take the snobs out for a few days or trim her beak and put her back in. LIke I said though trimming the beak causes some blood and not everyone is willing to do that...it does grow back though if you just trim the tip. taking just the tip off makes it hard for her to grab pinch and tear

. Theres only one hen I have that i perminantly debeaked her...many are against it (it involves trimming back pretty far) but she is a keeper and was very aggressive to even my roo at the time...so now she has a hard time grabbing the other birds and she's finnally given up. Like i tried telling others you trim teh beak by the time it grows back most hens that were aggressive don't seem to be aggressive anymore

Separating them if you have the pens though (put all the aggressors in one pen for a day or two) should do the trick as well....just introduce them back in maybe one bird in the morning (fi you have more than one aggressor) and then another at lunch time and then keep doing it that day until all grumps are back in

I hoep my rambles help again

Happy to help!

 

[laputa]

Thank you Niki I think what you suggested will really help me this weekend when I mix them in and take care of any issues that may rise.