Put Small 4 Week Old Chick in with New Hatches?

jlwquilter

Songster
Apr 30, 2019
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West Palm Beach FL
I have 3 4 week old boys in with 2 10 week old girls. Everybody gets along fine but the smallest youngest chick (he hatched last) is way smaller than his hatch mates. He’s acting ok but I don’t think he’s getting enough to eat even though the food is there all day long. He’s not nearly as feathered out as the other 2. Not even close.
I have chicks hatching today (just heard chirping!). I’m thinking of putting the struggling chick in with the new hatches tomorrow. Maybe he’d do better with them and kinda catch up ...? Then integrate him back in a few weeks. I don’t plan on keeping any of the chicks - the girls will sell and the boys will go to a friend’s farm. But I’d like all the ones going to the farm to be integrated before that happens. There’s no rush to move them on but I do have a target date of mid May.
Is this a good thing to try? I’m afraid if I don’t do something he’s going to just slowly decline.
 
I have 3 4 week old boys in with 2 10 week old girls. Everybody gets along fine but the smallest youngest chick (he hatched last) is way smaller than his hatch mates. He’s acting ok but I don’t think he’s getting enough to eat even though the food is there all day long. He’s not nearly as feathered out as the other 2. Not even close.
I have chicks hatching today (just heard chirping!). I’m thinking of putting the struggling chick in with the new hatches tomorrow. Maybe he’d do better with them and kinda catch up ...? Then integrate him back in a few weeks. I don’t plan on keeping any of the chicks - the girls will sell and the boys will go to a friend’s farm. But I’d like all the ones going to the farm to be integrated before that happens. There’s no rush to move them on but I do have a target date of mid May.
Is this a good thing to try? I’m afraid if I don’t do something he’s going to just slowly decline.
I think it's a cute idea to put the struggling boy with the new hatches. as long as he's small enough. it would give him a chance to try to be at the top of the order. if bullying happens, put him back with his original hatch mates.
 
I have 3 4 week old boys in with 2 10 week old girls. Everybody gets along fine but the smallest youngest chick (he hatched last) is way smaller than his hatch mates. He’s acting ok but I don’t think he’s getting enough to eat even though the food is there all day long. He’s not nearly as feathered out as the other 2. Not even close.
I have chicks hatching today (just heard chirping!). I’m thinking of putting the struggling chick in with the new hatches tomorrow. Maybe he’d do better with them and kinda catch up ...? Then integrate him back in a few weeks. I don’t plan on keeping any of the chicks - the girls will sell and the boys will go to a friend’s farm. But I’d like all the ones going to the farm to be integrated before that happens. There’s no rush to move them on but I do have a target date of mid May.
Is this a good thing to try? I’m afraid if I don’t do something he’s going to just slowly decline.
I had 3 EE's that were about 3-3.5 weeks old when I then got 3 sapphire gems that were probably only about 3-4 days old (they barely had wing feathers). The 3 new babies actually helped the older ones come out of their "shells". They are all getting along great even though the older ones are now almost 3x as big as the younger. It's worth a try.
 
The first chick just hatched!
I do think I’m going to try putting the little boy in with these new babies. Worse case, as noted, I’ll just have to take him back out.
I don’t see any of the other chicks picking on the little guy or chasing him. He just seems more skittish generally. I do now think he became this way after adding in the older girls last week. Maybe that brought out his insecurities!
As a funny side note the smaller of the other 2 boy chicks immediately took on the dominant girl to show her who was boss. He’s MUCH smaller at 4-5 weeks younger than she is but when she pecked him a few times he wasn’t having it. He tore right back into her and got a feather out of her hide as she took one of his fluffs. But she’s the one that backed off. She went to the feed dish and he strutted right up next to her and started eating too. The other chicks just watched. Just shows testosterone counts more than size sometimes! Lol!
 
The first chick just hatched!
I do think I’m going to try putting the little boy in with these new babies. Worse case, as noted, I’ll just have to take him back out.
I don’t see any of the other chicks picking on the little guy or chasing him. He just seems more skittish generally. I do now think he became this way after adding in the older girls last week. Maybe that brought out his insecurities!
As a funny side note the smaller of the other 2 boy chicks immediately took on the dominant girl to show her who was boss. He’s MUCH smaller at 4-5 weeks younger than she is but when she pecked him a few times he wasn’t having it. He tore right back into her and got a feather out of her hide as she took one of his fluffs. But she’s the one that backed off. She went to the feed dish and he strutted right up next to her and started eating too. The other chicks just watched. Just shows testosterone counts more than size sometimes! Lol!
Huh! Interesting story...
 
I think it's a cute idea to put the struggling boy with the new hatches. as long as he's small enough. it would give him a chance to try to be at the top of the order. if bullying happens, put him back with his original hatch mates.
Yes. Put him under heat again with the new chicks. If he is a cockerel I expect he will then take charge of the flock, but not damage them. I would be more worried if he was a hen.
 
The chicks I mentioned above got upgraded to a larger space this week. Went to say hi to them on my lunch break just now and was tickled even the littles found their way up to the highest perch. They definitely like to stick together. 🥰

Hope all goes well with your little guy jlwquilter!


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