What age to introduce new chickens to existing flock?

[lazy gardener]

I brooded my chicks this year with a heating pad. They were fully integrated by 4 weeks. That being said, they had more space, and I let my flock free range until a pair of hawks discovered my buffet. So, I've spent the last few weeks shuffling the youngsters in and out of a tractor depending on the hawk issue. The youngsters are 2 months old now, and spending 24/7 with the older flock. You'll just have to try it and see how it works.

 

[theback40]

hi there,

i have an age introduction question concerning chicks n young pullets.
i'm brooding some chicks now, n wanting to order some more in april, but wanted to see if there was a sort of 'sweet spot' regarding ages n best time to order the next brood. i understand the intro recommendations, but don't know if i'm inadvertently inviting juvenile shenanigans vs waiting till the flock is more mature??

would a 13 week age difference be ok? (about 3 months)

 

[hentown]

I have many different ages in my flock, and generally keep chicks separate until they are at least 8 weeks. It seems to work best when the flock can see but not interact directly with the chicks for a few weeks before I introduce them. Usually there are a few pecks or chasing incidents, but I find within less than a week they are all getting along. Usually some of the older hens will watch out for the chicks, and eventually it seems they find their own rooster (I have about 40 hens and 7 roosters). I'm amazed at how they sort themselves and maintain unique cliques within the flock. Best advice: let the chicks get some exposure to your flock without full access (like a fenced area within the yard). Good luck with the new chicks!

 

[icanhazchikn]

Hi,

Just curious about this, so if I have hens that are about a year old, I could put 8 week old chicks in with them possibly? I have a big chicken tractor that originally was for 8 chickens but I lost four of them. I'm wanting to do some new chickens this spring and wasn't sure if I should just start with some that are older if I can find someone selling or start with some babies again soon.

It would be great if I could have them all together, I think I saw someone put them in a dog crate or something inside the coop to help acclimate them to each other?

 

[Wavechickens]

we lost half our flock to a owl so we decided to get three new hens to replace them. We now have theee previous ladies and three new ladies. We got some 'what we hope' are around same age as ours. They are the same size as ours but even with the separated 'see but no touch' introduction it's been three weeks and the older ladies still harass our newer ladies to the point they are not aloud to eat, drink, leave the coops back corner without being packed relentlessly back into the corner every time we let them mingle.
Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[LeeRoadPoultry]

Any advise on adding or allowing a brood gen and her clutch to stay in coop? Or move out completely? Move the nest?
Wondering about common practices.

 

[triplepurpose]

Any advise on adding or allowing a brood gen and her clutch to stay in coop? Or move out completely? Move the nest?
Wondering about common practices.

Back when we did hatches with broodies we always kept them separated from the rest of flock by a chickenwire/netting barrier, their own sheltered mini coop within the coop with separate water and feed. Once the chicks were about 5 or 6 weeks old and toughened up a bit we removed the barrier but still monitored the scene a bit during feeding times to make sure everybody was able to eat, and made sure to provide enough diffrent feed troughs or dishes that were spread out a bit. By then they were also all used to seeing eachother thru the fence so bullying was minimized. This controlled gradual integration method worked for us. But take it with a grain of salt because lot depends on what your set up is like, how large a flock you have, how you feed, where the mother hen stands in the flock pecking order, whether you have any particularly territorial adult flock members, and whether you have a rooster who will help look out for the chicks too (as we did then).

If you visit the broody hen hatching thread on here on BYC you may get a lot more advice and ideas...

 

[DurangoChickens]

I have an older flock (about a year old) and lost 2/3 withing the first 6 months.... so I decided to get some more chicks in the spring, but ended up stopping and looking too long at our local Tractor Supply and ended up getting 11 chicks that are now 5 weeks old and a set of 5 bantams that are 3 weeks old (my hope is to have them all living together in the end). The 5 week old chicks are in a separate section of our big coop and have been there for about 3 weeks now and the big hens no longer seem curious about them, I plan to introduce them to the big flock when they are around 8 weeks old. The bantams are still in the house in their brooder, because the older chicks were picking on them.
I placed an order at a hatchery to have 20 chicks come the 3rd week of April... they will be in the brooder inside for as long as they can before it gets too crowded (I have never had this many at one time in the brooder)

I am only able to separate the coop into 2 different sides, so I was wondering if anyone has any ideas about what to do with the bantam chicks? I was thinking about maybe seeing how the bantams would do with the new tiny chicks? I hope to have the 5 week old chicks completely introduced before the next batch of chicks arrive.

 

[ladonnawoodley61]

May I hop in for some advice here? I have 8-9 week old girls who have been in an interior pen with my big girls for a couple of weeks now during the day. The big girls free range and when I'm in the yard I let the little girls wander too (they spend a good amount of time digging in my garden with me and eating any good treats we find.). This week the bigs an little have started wandering together just about with 6 to 8 feet between them most of the time (2 littles and 3 bigs make my flock). Last night I put the littles in the bigs coop and this morning they're in the run and all getting along. The bigs are interested but not being aggressive. This is maybe week three of being around each other thru wire. Am I screwing up big time by doing this? An I being tricked by dumb beginners luck that will run out?

Also if they do integrate well, what do I do about feed? My bigs are on lay pellets but barely eat it because they range most days. My littles are on medicated chick starter feed. If my bigs get into that are their eggs safe? My littles range too but not as often/long...if that supplements some of their medicated feed will they be okay? I'm keeping as natural as I can but trying to be flexible for the health of my girls.

Thanks guys I know this is a lot...so thankful for all the knowledge here!!

I have six chickens that I hatched 11 weeks ago. (3 hens/3 roosters). I have two silkies that hatched six weeks ago. Currently the two "flocks" are separated by a wire wall. Both are circled by an electric fence. The biggies are allowed outside on grass. The littles are not yet. Please advise when it would be safe to combine the two flocks?

 

[Tookie]

I have six chickens that I hatched 11 weeks ago. (3 hens/3 roosters). I have two silkies that hatched six weeks ago. Currently the two "flocks" are separated by a wire wall. Both are circled by an electric fence. The biggies are allowed outside on grass. The littles are not yet. Please advise when it would be safe to combine the two flocks?

merlotmudpies hasn't been on BYC in over 5 years, so they will likely not respond.
It would be best to create your own thread.