Putting young chicks with older chicks?

[fluffpuffgerbil]

So I see variations of this question, namely like, putting young chicks in with hens a couple years old or more, but my chicks are 9 weeks apart in age, my bigger ones being 13 weeks and my smaller ones being 4 weeks. I don't think my smaller ones are quite feathered all the way, so I'm giving them a couple more weeks, then I'm sure they'll be fine with the weather out there.

Now if they grow like my other ones grew, they should get quite a lot bigger in the next two weeks and be all feathered. Should this still be old enough to allow them to defend themselves against the older chicks? To get them used to each other a little bit, I've been taking out the little chicks and setting them in front of the coop to allow the bigger ones to see them, and I've also put the small ones in a wire rat/guinea pig cage and put them out IN the run so the big ones can get right up to them, see them, watch them, etc, but not peck them since the bars are too closely placed. I have held one while I sit in the run, and one of the older chicks, my ancona, is the most aggressive towards them, running over, puffing her neck feathers up, jumping to try and peck them(only once she managed to peck her, but the baby was fine, just startled).

I have no idea how my cockerel will react. He seems more 'chill' about them than Alice(ancona) does.

I'm just not sure how to go about integrating them into the run and coop.... I've looked for these types of threads through search, but it's not really helped me... And I don't really feel comfortable just sticking the babies on the roost while the big ones are sleeping like some people I've seen suggest...

 

[lightchick]

Yeah, I think another week or so and you will probably be able to put them together.

Just introduce them slowly.

 

[Judy]

Since they are all relatively young, I think I would go with mixing them in a large space during the day, along with treats, places to hide, etc. At that age they probably aren't as accustomed to the roost as older birds would be. There is really no telling how it will go, of course -- but things might not be bad at all with their being so young. The rooster presumabl isn't feeling maing urges yet, so he might be the least problematic of all, expecially if he is friendly, at present. Good luck!

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

The younger ones do have a roost in their brooder, and they hop on it sometimes during the day, but they've been sleeping on the floor under their heat lamp mainly. And Pepper(rooster) isn't mean, though last night he nipped me when I went in the coop, but it was dark and he was on his roost and didn't expect me to reach in to pet him or one of the girls, and he didn't nip hard. He's the least skittish probably of all of them, but he did get handled the most as a baby(when we thought he was a girl...)

So yeah, I guess I can just start with maybe supervised playdates, lots of treats, and some places where only the little ones can go andhide so the big ones can't get them....