Trying to mix 5 week old chicks with 7 week old chicks! Impossible?

[Callacda]

I hope I can do this. I lost my chickens last September when I broke my arm. I couldn't catch my chickens to put them in the pen after free ranging them. Sometimes in the past, I would let them roost on my front porch with the spot light on, so I thought they would be ok, but something got to them and there were feathers everywhere when I woke.

I got new chicks this spring from a local man that hatched them. I got 4 he hatched. I was afraid when they were 2 weeks old that I might have got 3 cockerels and one pullet. So when I saw Rhode Island Red chicks 2 weeks later I picked out 3 females by looking at their feathers and it worked, but now I want to mix the 3 Rhode Island Reds (5 wk old) with the 4 (7 wk old) chicks. Almost every day, if it's warm enough, for the past 2 weeks I have been putting them out during the day with the older 4 chicks inside a dog kennel inside the run with the older ones. I have someone building me a large coop for them all, but I just tried to let them out of the Kennel and into the larger run and it wasn't great. I'm afraid the smaller chicks are going to be dead meat. Any suggestions? I could let the 7 week olds out of the run and let them free range but I'm fostering a dog right now and I am afraid he might hurt them. My other dogs and cats won't hurt them but he might. As you can see, the older chicks are so much larger.

 

[nuthatched]

Let them mingle supervised, they'll likely be fine.

 

[atomic]

They should be ok. At a farm swap I bought three two week olds and two day olds, from day one they’ve all been best friends despite the significant size difference.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sometimes you can mix chicks a few weeks apart in age without big problems. Sometimes trying to integrate chicks the same age is a real problem. Each chicken has its own personality and each flock has its own dynamics. That's why you don't get consistent results.

I notice you have both males and females. Having boys can change the equation some.

I just tried to let them out of the Kennel and into the larger run and it wasn't great.

What did that look like? What actually happened? We all have our concepts of what "wasn't great" looks like, I don't know yours.

A little pecking or intimidation helps set the pecking order. That would not bother me. What would be a problem would be an older chick chasing and attacking a younger chick, trying to pin it down and pecking it hard, especially trying to peck it on the head. Pecking on the head can kill it fairly quickly. A real danger is that the younger chick gets trapped against a wall or fence and can't get away.

The older rank higher than the younger in the pecking order. That's whether some are adults, adolescents, or chicks. If they are not going to mingle immediately the younger are in danger of getting pecked or worse if they invade the personal space of the older. It usually doesn't take long for the younger to learn to avoid the older. I often have different broods of different aged chicks in with my adults. It is not unusual for me to have three or four different sub-flocks but I have enough room that the younger can avoid the older. They avoid each other during the day. At night they sleep separately. They may be in the same coop but my coop is big enough they can find separate sleeping spaces. I also have a separate coop they can sleep in.

It is the younger's job to avoid the older. If the older walk toward the younger the younger run away as if they are terrified of the older because they are terrified.

It does not happen that often, especially if you have a lot of room, but occasionally you will get a chicken that is a pure brute. They go out of their way to hunt and try to kill a younger chick. If you have one of these I don't know of any solution other than keeping a fence between them or getting rid of the aggressor. The aggressor can be a cockerel or a pullet.

Another potential problem is when you have cockerels. Usually they are not that much of a problem until they hit puberty, around 3 to 4 months old, but occasionally you get a precocious one, even at 5 or 7 weeks old. They may fight other cockerels or pullets, or harass the pullets. That's probably more in the future for you but you don't get guarantees with living animals and their behaviors. About anything can happen.

So, what can you do? A typical process is to house them across wire from each other for a week or longer. Let them get used to each other. Then let them mingle when you can observe. If they mingle, fine, but it sounds like yours didn't. If they separate into two separate flocks with no one getting hurt, fine. Give them as much room as you can. You can improve upon the quality of what room you have by adding clutter. Clutter is things they can hide under, behind, or on top of. The idea is to break line of sight so they don't get attacked or give them places to run to if they are chased. Don't have dead ends where they can't escape.

Having widely separated food and water stations (preferably out of sight of the other stations) lets them eat and drink without being bullied. Try to not force them to share a small space, either daytime or at night. This is often a problem as we often do not have separate predator safe places for them to sleep.

How long do you keep this up? Until they mingle on their own. This might take a few days, it may take until the younger pullets start to lay. You are dealing with living animals, you do not get guarantees.

Does this always work? No, you are dealing with living animals. You need to base your actions on what you see, not what some stranger like me says over the internet. Sometimes you have to choose between permanently separating them or getting rid of troublemakers for the peace of the flock.