Putting young chickens with adults......

[pozarnsk]

When can I put my Ameraucana chicks in with my adult chickens and not have problems? Now they are about 2 months old and quickly outgrowing their space, so I'd like to put them in with the others in the main coop, but don't want dead birds......ideas???

 

[Pumpkinpup]

I have discovered that as long as the chicks are still making baby noises, DON'T put them with grown birds! I have had 3 bad experiences in my early chicken years and that was enough carnage to make a believer out of me.

 

[TaLani]

The babies need to be similar in size or they will be severly injured. They basically need to be big enough to ward of attacks from the older ones. If not they'll be

and

.

 

[Feathered Wings]

Quote:
I totaly agree been there and it was ugly

 

[animal nut]

What we did was create a section in the main coop just for the babies with chicken wire. This allowed the adults to be around the younger ones. Babies are 10 weeks old now and have been with the older ones altogether for around a month now.

 

[hatchaholic]

Quote:
We had the babies in a large cage inside the coop. After a couple of weeks, we started leaving the cage doors open. That way, the little ones could come out, but still had a place to get away from the big ones. Then, after a few more weeks, we took the cages out totally. The "babies" are 15 weeks old now and are fitting in just fine with the older ones.

 

[ChickenSmitten]

I agree with kimbparra,
I created a "saftey zone" of chicken wire ( walls and roof) in the big girl coop where the little ones were kept for a few days and then small openings were made to allow them to come and go but the big girls couldn't get through, I left that up for about 3 weeks and the little ones had their own food and water and cozy warm spot to sleep. We had zero injusries.