Ordering new chicks & integrating

[JenniferJoIN]

So I'm thisclose to ordering some baby chicks. I found xtreme game and poultry through eggbid who have said they would ship me 5 Americauna and 5 other kind of pullets for around $40.00. (shipping included)

So my question is, since my chicks will be about 6 weeks apart, if I do order chicks and put them with the bigger chicks when they are 3 weeks old, will they get picked on, or is everybody young enough to mesh well? (So when I combine them, there would be 3 week olds and 9 week olds)

 

[ukchickengirl]

Glad you asked that cos hopefully i'll have some hatching on sat and already have a 2 week old and a week old chick in the brooder!!

 

[Windy Ridge]

Just so you know, X treme Game and Poultry doesn't have true Ameraucanas; they have Easter Eggers. True Ameraucanas lay blue eggs and come in certain standard colors; X treme advertises their "Ameraucanas" as laying green eggs... and the photo of their "Ameraucana" is certainly not a standard bird. It's an EE. I say this just so you know. I really wish hatcheries would quit trying to trick people. EEs are nice birds, though.

As to your question, it's usually easier to integrate babies than it is to mix older birds. If you can wait until your new baby chicks are closer in size to your older birds, it would be helpful. Obviously, they won't catch up completely until they're grown.

What I did to integrate the new babies I hatched to my older brood was to put them in an "introduction" brooder within the larger coop, so they could see each other through chicken wire... sort of get familiar with each other before mixing. After a week or two I let them out in the evening when everyone was sleepy and ready to bed down. I also moved everything around in the coop to confuse them a bit.

Luckily, I didn't have any trouble.

If you were introducing started pullets into your flock, you could use the same method after a one month quarantine period. I couldn't quite tell if you meant they would be shipping started pullets (older birds) or if you meant day-olds, which you don't need to quarantine. I'd have to guess from the price that you meant baby chicks, though... right?

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Thank you for the heads up about the EEs. Darn fibbing people!

And yes, I intend on getting chicks so that no quarantine period would be required.

I hate to be impatient, but I want to avoid the integrating problems that may come if I wait until spring to get the chicks!

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Anyone else have any experience with integrating chicks that are roughly 6 weeks apart?

 

[rosyposyosy]

barg's chicks (i think) were 8 weeks apart, and he's still having problems with them. he has a whole thread about it - go to everything else chicken - it's the esther and winnie one

 

[seminolewind]

I have a 4 month old and three one month olds, I put them together for half an hour supervised, a few harmless squabbles. Then I put them all in the coop together, making sure there were hiding places for the little ones. They are fine. In the morning, the older one chases them around to show them who's boss, then she's fine, and wants to be part of the group. She even lowers her head for them, and let the little ones peck her face. It's fun to watch.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I have three 18 month old hens and just got 12 new chicks in August. The chicks are eight weeks old now. I kept them in the brooder until four weeks old and then moved them out to the coop with the older birds. I haven't had too many problems. They are all let out to run the yard during the day. The older ones pretty much stick together and run off and do their own thing while the chicks stay together around the coop. There is only occasional pecking around the feeder or if a chick gets underfoot of the big ones.

The older birds had been sleeping at the left end of an eight foot long roost while the chicks huddled on the floor. In the past week some of the chicks started moving up onto the far right of the roost at night and there weren't any problems. Last night I heard some quawking out there at roost time and when I went out there all of the chicks were up on the roost and one of the older hens, a RIR, was walking down the roost pecking the chicks and knocking them off. After a while of this I grabbed a milk crate from the floor and propped it up on the roost between the three older birds and the chicks. That seemed to solve the crisis for the night. This evening I went out there and all was peaceful. The three older birds roosting to the left of the milk crate and all of the chicks roosting to the right. Goofy birds....

 

[seminolewind]

THAT is too funny, the same thing is happening here.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

That was a great mental picture, the bigger one going down and pecking all the little ones off!