New with Some Basic Questions

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Treeva

Treeva

In the Brooder
8 Years
9 Years
Jan 24, 2011
16
0
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Hello All!

I am new here and my 10 year old son's interested in doing the Poultry project in 4H has prompted me here. We are so new that we don't even have chickens yet
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I am planning on raising day olds in our basement and then moving them to my friend's house who has a decent sized coop nearby. I was discussing this with a friend today who has a few chickens and he said I would have to wait a year before adding my chickens to older chickens - is this true? I was going to start them in the basement, but certainly don't want to keep them in there indefinetely. Plus, we live in a subdivision (1 acre) and I'm not sure my neighbors (or if they would even allow it in our village) or husband would want them living in our backyard.

Any information on how and when to add chickens to an existing flock would be very helpful and I can start planning on how to take on this new adventure!

Mary
 
Welcome Treeva, from an imp in Washington

Adding chicks to an existing flock can be a little tricky. It is generally recommended waiting till they are about the same size. Maybe 5-6 months old. But there are lots of people who do not wait, or wait till they are older.
The danger is if they are too young and/or too small the adults can hurt or kill the chicks. I have not had that problem, just lots of screaming. Lol. Whatever you do it needs to monitored closely.

Good luck

Imp
 
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from Ohio. So glad you joined. Like Imp said it can be tricky but it is possible. I would really find out if your friend's coop can be divided somehow if the need arises. You might even want to talk to your neighbors to see if they would mind if you kept a few hens. I hope your son gets to do his poultry project. He will enjoy. Good luck.
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from Ohio. I'd get those issues all straightened out first before diving in. But you should be able to introduce young chicks with older hens, especially if you take them in at night and place them on the roost with the others. They should be fully feathered and able to fend for themselves without a heat source.
 
Great information on introducing new chickens to an established flock! Thank you!! I contacted my village hall regarding keeping 2-3 backyard hens. Haven't heard back from them as of yet. I did scour the village written ordinances, but couldn't find anything that specifically spelled out that you can or can't have poultry in single family residential zoning. I definetely want to get anything like that spelled out before we delve into this. I told my son that he may have to observe and attend the meeting from the "sidelines" this year to get a feel for the poultry raising, taking care of and showing aspects before we show next year at the county fair. That way we can get chicks when it gets a little warmer and plan ahead rather than feeling rushed. I'm hoping we can keep a few in our backyard - that would be the easiest as far as things go.

Thanks again for all the information!!!
Mary
 

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