Putting my chicks with my laying hens?

[silkiechick93]

My family are first time chicken owners. We bought a couple of Golden Sex-Links at Tractor Supply, and we recently bought some one year old Rhode Island Reds which are already laying from a friend. Which brings me to my next question: is it okay to put our one month old chicks outside in the coop with the laying hens? And how do I keep them from eating the laying mash if we do?

 

[SobbaChickens]

You could put them in the coop as long as it's warm enough but put up wire to the hens can't get to them. I've seen lots of posts on here about this and some people have good luck and others will lose their chicks.

You just won't know until you try.

Katie

 

[redneck farmer]

I would be VARY VARY carefull because I put my 1 month old with my 2 mouth old an they beat one up so bad I thought I lost it but it barely lived ( its doin fine now) so like I said be care full but it might work for you because all chickens are different

 

[silkiechick93]

Thank you, they have their feathers, so they should be warm enough, should we just monitor them at first? And go from there?

 

[bigT88]

i would put the younger hens in a cage within the coop for a day or two. also putting the new ones in at night is less stressful. so the new birds are just there the next morning.

 

[locoguru]

4 weeks old might be a little early to put outside.

 

[silkiechick93]

Well my mom's thinking they were about a month old when we bought them, and we've had them a month now, so they're around two months old probably.