A few questions. How old are the new chicks? Where do you live so we have an idea about your weather? How big is your coop? Do you have electricity in the coop so you could brood them out there? How are you brooding them now? The more information you can give us the more likely we can give you information that suits your circumstances. There are a lot of different options but which ones might suit you will depend on your unique circumstances.
Many of us brood outside in the coop, straight from the incubator or post office. A good way to get a big brooder is to use appliance boxes in your garage. If they outgrow what you have, get another appliance box and tape them together. Depending on your weather you may be able to move them to the coop at four weeks. I had a broody hen wean her chicks at three weeks earlier this spring. Yours may be able to go out much earlier than you think.
As to your specific question, can you separate them in two different brooders and put them back together later without problems? Maybe. Usually you can do that kind of stuff if they aren't separated for a long time. But you are dealing with living animals, you don't get guarantees. I once had a 2-week-old chick kill its hatchmate. A broody hen hatched them both and was raising them together. No integration of separation involved. That is extremely rare, it is not something I'd even come close to expecting to happen. But with living animals you just don't know what might happen.
In your situation I'd try to keep them together if possible. If you have to separate them I'd just put them back together when I could and observe, being ready to intervene if I have to. If you can set the two brooders up so they can see into the other so they don't become strangers. No matter which way you go I can't give you guarantees as to what will happen, but things like this can improve your odds. Reading on here you'd think that disasters are guaranteed if you don't do everything perfect. It doesn't work that way. Most of the time things work out pretty well even if you do a lot of things wrong. But things can possibly go wrong. That's mostly what you read about on here.
Good luck!
Many of us brood outside in the coop, straight from the incubator or post office. A good way to get a big brooder is to use appliance boxes in your garage. If they outgrow what you have, get another appliance box and tape them together. Depending on your weather you may be able to move them to the coop at four weeks. I had a broody hen wean her chicks at three weeks earlier this spring. Yours may be able to go out much earlier than you think.
As to your specific question, can you separate them in two different brooders and put them back together later without problems? Maybe. Usually you can do that kind of stuff if they aren't separated for a long time. But you are dealing with living animals, you don't get guarantees. I once had a 2-week-old chick kill its hatchmate. A broody hen hatched them both and was raising them together. No integration of separation involved. That is extremely rare, it is not something I'd even come close to expecting to happen. But with living animals you just don't know what might happen.
In your situation I'd try to keep them together if possible. If you have to separate them I'd just put them back together when I could and observe, being ready to intervene if I have to. If you can set the two brooders up so they can see into the other so they don't become strangers. No matter which way you go I can't give you guarantees as to what will happen, but things like this can improve your odds. Reading on here you'd think that disasters are guaranteed if you don't do everything perfect. It doesn't work that way. Most of the time things work out pretty well even if you do a lot of things wrong. But things can possibly go wrong. That's mostly what you read about on here.
Good luck!
