to what age(s) can chicks successfully be introduced?

[lawatt]

the more i think about this, the more i realize i have a question: right now in the chick department, i have

-- five 7-week-olds living outdoors in a pen of their own, with one empty pen next door.

-- six 3-week-olds in the indoor brooder, along with
-- four 1-week-olds, and
-- twelve 2-day olds.

-- and there are 17 shipped eggs in the incubator, hatching in a little over two weeks (although who knows how many will hatch, i've had bad luck with shipped eggs)

so far, the three age groups in the brooder have all blended together into a single happy flock without any drama -- hooray for that!

but the 3-week-olds will soon be grown enough to go outside, and i wonder whether i'll be able to merge them with the 7-week-olds? or, i could keep them in the two separate pens (my one brooder is not going to be large enough to house 22 chicks as they get bigger, so the oldest ones are going to HAVE to move out) -- but by the time the littler ones are ready to join them outdoors, i'll have the same problem, of needing to (re-)introduce them to a group of slightly older & larger chicks (I only have the two spare pens for them all to live in, the other pens are full of adults).

so the question is, what's the oldest you've been able to merge groups of chicks without the older/larger group rejecting the others? at least they are are sizable groups, so no risk of a single chick being picked on -- but when do the pecking orders become cemented enough that newcomers really get rougher treatment?

or, any particularly successful methods of blending groups of chicks that are roughly 3 weeks apart in age?

thanks in advance for any suggestions anyone might have!

 

[silvia32444]

You can put them together and stay watching. But also if they get along, the smaller chicks won't eat enough.
I have different ages chicks, they never peck each other, except when I feed them. So I leave them together in the night and separated in the day, so everyone has time to eat.

 

[lawatt]

You can put them together and stay watching. But also if they get along, the smaller chicks won't eat enough.
I have different ages chicks, they never peck each other, except when I feed them. So I leave them together in the night and separated in the day, so everyone has time to eat.

thanks! mine have food available at all times, so i'm hoping that won't be a problem... trying out the two oldest groups together today.

thanks for responding!

 

[silvia32444]

Also mine have food all the times, but the older eat ALL, while the younger wait in a corner....

 

[ajhaig]

So, you are letting your 7 wk olds stay outside all night? I am in Sonoma County also, Santa Rosa, and my 6 wk olds act uncomfortable in the later afternoon, can't imagine how they would do all night. Also, my pen has no top so they would get eaten. I wonder when I could merge the 4 babes with my 3 layers...I understand they need all feathers first but one hen acts like she wants to attack the babies now thru the fence,

 

[silvia32444]

My coop is close with heating lamp

 

[lawatt]

So, you are letting your 7 wk olds stay outside all night? I am in Sonoma County also, Santa Rosa, and my 6 wk olds act uncomfortable in the later afternoon, can't imagine how they would do all night. Also, my pen has no top so they would get eaten. I wonder when I could merge the 4 babes with my 3 layers...I understand they need all feathers first but one hen acts like she wants to attack the babies now thru the fence,

my chicks stay indoors with an EcoGlow for warmth until they are 4 weeks, then they go out into a pen, which has an enclosed henhouse (no heat, i don't have any electricity running to the pens) + attached run, all predator-proof -- and after 4 weeks or so, they are quite good at snuggling together to get all the warmth they need. they are tough little creatures! I'm located near the top of Sonoma Mtn, so it's probably a bit cooler than Santa Rosa this time of year, but they're all doing just fine.

and so far the 7-week-olds + the 4-week-olds, who have been in the same pen for about three hours, are doing great -- mostly the older ones ignore the little ones, and it's the little ones who have been lined up at the feeder gobbling away! just watching now to make sure they remember to go back up the ramp to the warmer nestboxes at night...