Moving Chicks to Live Together

[cindye123]

I bought eight chicks - two each BCM, Black Australorp, light Brahma, and Ameraucana, about a month ago. They had been hatched a little over a week before, so are about six weeks old. These eight are in my coop. I then bought five Buff Orpington, which were hatched last week, and are inside my house. At what age will the Orpington be ready to go into the coop, and should I separate them at first? What should I know about combining the flocks?

 

[HollyJB]

Hi there. I'm in a similar situation - I got three chicks in mid March which are now out in my coop and then got 5 more which will be ready to join them in a month or so. The advice I got was that it will very much depend how many of your 5 buff orpingtons are roos, and if there are any roos from your first eight?

I'm planning to separate an area of my coop in which to start putting the new chicks for short periods from about 3 weeks old to let the older ones start to get familiar with them. When they get to about 6 weeks old I will then try introducing them in an open neutral space (not in the coop) and see how they do. I think success will depend heavily on how many more roos I have - if I've got three more for example, I will only be able to house them all together in the very short term and then will have to rehome the roos before they start maturing.

As for combining flocks, just make sure there is plenty of food and water so there's no resource guarding. Keep a close eye to start with in case there's a particular chick that is getting picked on. When this happens, I step in and scatter more food down to distract everyone. On the day I intend the new birds to sleep in the coop for the first time, I usually put the rest out to free range and let them get familiar with the coop on their own for a while first.

Let us know how you get on

 

[cindye123]

Thanks for your help. None of my first eight is a roo. The new ones are as of yet to be determined.