Want to introduce 1 mo. old chicks to 3 month old birds. How should I feed the little ones the starter food?

[RawEggEater]

I bought 27 Rhode Island Reds back in May as a straight run. Now that they are about 4 months old, I found I have too many roosters for the hens (11/6). So about 1 month ago I went back and got 10 more. The guy at TSC tried to sex them for me so I'm hoping I got more hens now. The little ones are getting rambunctious and antsy in their 4x4 pen in the garage and I'd like to put them with the others outside. The problem is the others are on adult food (scratch grain mixed with layer and meat bird powder) while the younger ones need to stay on the starter food for 10-12 weeks, or so I've read. I'm in a quandary as what to do here.

 

[nuthatched]

Just feed everyone starter, the others are way too young for layer anyway.
It's not a good idea to mix scratch with the feed, they tend to pick it out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Were the new chicks you bought were from a sexed bin? I have never heard of a TSC employee trained to sex birds (unless he's doing it by some unproven method)?

As far as feed, it's best to have everyone eating whatever the youngest birds are eating, whether that's starter or all flock. Scratch is a treat and shouldn't be mixed in with their actual feed.

 

[RawEggEater]

The TSC employee held the chicks upside down and if the wings stopped flapping, it was a female.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The TSC employee held the chicks upside down and if the wings stopped flapping, it was a female.

Yikes - that's a very old wives tale way of doing it! No one working for a store should be handling chicks in that manner.

If you strictly want hens, your odds are 90% out of a sexed pullet bin, assuming the chicks are in the correctly marked bin. If you don't mind getting more cockerels (i.e. dinner) then straight run is a tiny bit cheaper.

 

[RawEggEater]

Were the new chicks you bought were from a sexed bin? I have never heard of a TSC employee trained to sex birds (unless he's doing it by some unproven method)?

As far as feed, it's best to have everyone eating whatever the youngest birds are eating, whether that's starter or all flock. Scratch is a treat and shouldn't be mixed in with their actual feed.

I tried putting out one of the younger ones and the older roosters started pecking at it. I plan on processing most of the roosters so maybe I can separate the hens from the roosters and put the new ones with the hens.

 

[bobbi-j]

I tried putting out one of the younger ones and the older roosters started pecking at it. I plan on processing most of the roosters so maybe I can separate the hens from the roosters and put the new ones with the hens.

A single chick will definitely be a target for the larger birds. If you can clutter the run and coop so they have hiding places, put out multiple feeders and waterers, and even put up a partition with openings big enough for the littles to get through, but too small for the bigger ones. The pullets are just as likely to pick on the younger ones as the cockerels. I’d move the little ones soon or you’re going to run into overcrowding problems with them. Chicken society isn’t always pretty. The older ones picking at the younger is normal. It’s how the littles learn their place in the flock. As long as they’re not pinning them down, drawing blood or continually chasing and harassing them, I’d let them work it out.