Should I buy older chicks or day old?

[cjpines]

I have five 16 wk old female chickens that all get along great. I would like two more around the same age. My question is: I'm worried about older chickens bringing in diseases. Quite a few people on this forum have expressed get day olds.
I'm not really wanting to start over with day olds, but for safety reasons I may.

We just lost one 16 wk old Araucana to Marek's, but the rest are healthy which makes me a little skeptical getting older ones.

Has anyone had good luck getting older chicks? Or not? Would appreciate any comments on this.

 

[VsVariations]

I wish I had helpful information for you! I am wondering this same thing, however. My chickens are 12 weeks old right now, and my one EE hen has turned out to be a roo. I am wanting to get two more EE's now in order to have those beautiful pastel eggs - however, I'm also wondering if I should get older hens or baby chicks.

Oh, decisions decisions!

Hope it all works out for you!

-V

 

[cjpines]

I wish I had helpful information for you! I am wondering this same thing, however. My chickens are 12 weeks old right now, and my one EE hen has turned out to be a roo. I am wanting to get two more EE's now in order to have those beautiful pastel eggs - however, I'm also wondering if I should get older hens or baby chicks.

Oh, decisions decisions!

Hope it all works out for you!

-V

Keep posted someone will answer for us.

 

[aart]

I have five 16 wk old female chickens that all get along great. I would like two more around the same age. My question is: I'm worried about older chickens bringing in diseases. Quite a few people on this forum have expressed get day olds.
I'm not really wanting to start over with day olds, but for safety reasons I may.

We just lost one 16 wk old Araucana to Marek's, but the rest are healthy which makes me a little skeptical getting older ones.

Has anyone had good luck getting older chicks? Or not? Would appreciate any comments on this.

If you have Mareks on your property, you need to remediate that before bringing and other birds in.
Birds can carry the disease without showing symptoms and it can stay in your ground and coops...do some research.

 

[QuailQT]

I can tell you from my experience that if I could do it all again, I would NEVER, EVER buy another adult bird to add to my flock, especially from AUCTIONS. It just isn't worth the risk. It's a good idea to start with chicks for several health reasons, but also because they make for a nicer flock when they know you right from the beginning.

You just can never tell what older birds are carrying and they can't tell you either (though, wouldn't that be nice??). They don't always show sickness as they may have gotten over it, but still carry it and pass it on to ALL of your other birds. Then even if you start over with new birds, depending on the sickness, it can stay in your soil for years.

Resist the urge to buy adults. I wish that I had the chance to start over on a clean slate and knew then what I know now.