Putting chicks together?

[a123andpoof]

We have 20 chicks at the moment, and want to get 2 easter eggers and then 2 silkies. The chicks will be going out to the coop this weekend, they will be almost 4 weeks. Their will of course be a heat lamp in there for them. Now my questain I would like to be able to put the EEs in as soon as possible with the older chicks. Not totally sure how old the EEs will be but around a week or younger. I really hope to get them in the next week or so. And I don't know when the silkies will get in to the local feed store but they are coming! So my questain how long should I wait before I introduce the EEs? There will be 2. And the same for the silkies how long should I wait for them? And if they don't come in for another month will it be okay once they are a few weeks to just put them with the others monitered of course.

Thanks

 

[a123andpoof]

Oh one other thing! I read on another post that it was okay to put nail polish on the chicks feet to tell them apart..would that be okay or could there be issues with that? We have a lot of black ones that I can't tell apart...DX

 

[miraclz5]

I have read and been told by a few veteran chicken farmers that as long as the is no more than a month difference in the chicks age that they can be put together in the same brooder/coop...and just watch to make sure no one is pecking on another. Another trick I have heard from several people is when you introduce new chickens in a coop, the best time is after dark with no lights on....this has worked on more than one occasion for my brother....

As for the nail polish, I don't know anything about that....but I do know that a couple of ours have zip ties....you just have to keep changing them so they don't get too tight as the chick grows. This what the farmer we got them from uses and they come in a rainbow of colors.

Have fun.....we are having a blast with our baby chicks....they are just a little over a week old!

 

[a123andpoof]

Thank you! Thats a good idea. I will be sure to introduce after dark. Hopefully we get the last of the chicks soon since ours are almost 4 weeks already!
Zip ties are a good idea! and instead of getting diffrent colors just put a spot on each of them!
Yes the chicks are a blast I love taking them outside and watching them! They are such fun!

 

[giefdog]

I got my American's @ 4 wks and then a week latter I got 15 Turkens and they were 8 weeks, a week later i got 5 more Turkens The 6 Americana's and 7 of the Turkens have been together in the same pen and they get along great without any problems

 

[catchthewind]

I have two brooders going right now. The first one we got 2 six week old chicks and 3 two week old chicks that the breeder had been brooding together. About a week later we added two more chicks from the same hatching as the two week olds (so they were all just over three weeks at that point). Then about two weeks after that we added two two week old chicks to the mix, and just recently we added another one. They now range in age from 5 weeks up to 11 weeks and they've been fine. There are one or two who have pecked at the newcomers each time, but I took the peckers out, put them somewhere by themselves for an hour or two, and then reintroduced them, and never had any problems after that.

With my other brooder, I got 12 day olds, and just over a week later added 3 more day olds. The older ones did peck the newbies a little bit, but not excessively, and now they're all fine though I do worry a bit about the older ones accidentally smothering the 3 younger ones. The little ones are Silkies so they are tiny. They seem to be fine though.

 

[lady feathers]

Silkie are very tiny when you first get them and if your other chicks are standard size and already 4 weeks old.... I would start your silkies in a different brooder or on the other side of a divider for the first few weeks (doesn't take them to long to get some size on them and ome spunk but until then I would worry about them getting pushed around and off from feeders). As for the EE's I would start them seperate or with the silkies for at least a week but once they start getting some feathers in they usually know where everything is and can handle being shoved around a bit.... completely up to you though, monitor everyone for a while if you decide to go ahead and put them all together and as long as everyone is eating and drinking and no one seems out to get the little ones, you'd probably be ok. I just worry about the tiny banties until the are a few weeks with month olds.

 

[felidaet]

I always recommend that you never mix chicks more that two weeks difference in age if the youngest are only a week or two old. There is a huge difference in size and it is too easy for the big ones to trample the smaller ones. Unfortunately I experienced this first hand last year. By the time the youngest ones are 3 - 4 weeks old there should be no problem mixing them with several weeks in age difference.

I have no experience with silkies or any other bantams. I can not speak about them.

 

[a123andpoof]

Thanks everyone! Well they will probally all be in the chicken coop, but I will try and find a way to divide them, but maybe so they can see each other at least for the first week or two! My dad doesn't want any more chicks in the house haha.

 

[suzeqf]

I've got 22 chicks from 2-6 weeks old and everyone but my 2 week old chicks are together and I cleaned out their seperate but attached brooders last night and put the little ones in a box inside the big girls brooder but raised it up a bit so the big ones couldn't get in the box and my 2 week old turken(my dare devil) jumped out as soon as i put the box down and was promply chased and pecked by my 6 week banty but the others just kinda stared at them and after a few minutes everyone was calm and the little ones would perch on the edge of the box and no one bothered them. If I was going to put my little ones in with my older ones I would pick and choose who i put them in with