Mixing?

[Chickenmama94]

I have 5 hens that are 3 years old together in one coop/pen. I would like to mix our 5 chicks that are 3-4 months old. For the chicks I have 1 barred rock rooster,1 polish rooster,1 polish female and 2 gray mixed breeds. Is this a good idea to try to mix them. Can anyone give me advice?

 

[the Pollo Loco]

Iv'e had to do that before, it worked out ok no major pecking. just make sure you check on them, often.

 

[woodmort]

Right now I have 3 4 or5 yr-old hens, 10 3.5-month old pullets and 32 2-month old chicks all sharing the same coop and chicken yard. They seem to be doing well but tend to hang in their own age groups when outside. At night it is a free-for-all as far as the roosts are concerned. Check my BYC page on to see how I did it.

 

[OrloffTom]

My only suggestion would be about the two roosters together. If they are confined I would be afraid they would fight. Maybe if they were free-range it could possibly be ok but together I'd have second thoughts about it.

 

[burquechick]

Some people suggest putting them in at night, but I usually have better luck putting them in the coop/run for a couple days inside a dog crate or something. If the older birds can see them, but not peck at them, they will eventually get used to their presence. Then you can let them out after they get accustomed to each other and nobody gets hurt.

 

[rdport]

I second the idea of putting the younger ones in a pen inside the coop....let them look at each other for a week...this worked really well for us when we introduced younger ones.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Actually the two roosters will, having gone from sharing 3 hens to 8, think they've died and gone to heaven.

 

[ParrotsNPullets]

Quote:
Actually the two roosters will, having gone from sharing 3 hens to 8, think they've died and gone to heaven.

We mixed our 3 month olds and four 1 year olds just fine using the crate-in-coop method to get everyone used to being around eachother without pecking. Best of luck!