when and how to introduce 2 day olds and 3 week olds

[bumblebee]

i just got 2 black australorps (2 days old now, beatrice and henrietta) and i already have 2 easter eggers (linda lou and mable), 2 cochins (wilmena mae and jamima rose), and 2 barred rocks (flo and lorraine). all of them are 3 weeks old. what is the best way to introduce them and when? the lady at the feed store told me the sooner i do it the better it will be. right now, they are all in a large wire dog crate with a divider in the middle. when i first put the new chicks in on their side, some of the older chicks stuck their heads through the wiring to peck the new chicks. the new chicks didnt move and just "took it" so i put up some cardboard to block the older chicks access. ive put the little chicks in with the big chicks for about 30 seconds at a time to see how everyone would behave and one of my cochins (wilmena mae) and one of my easter eggers (flo) kept pecking and holding on to the little ones' legs. so, im not sure how or when to make the transition.

 

[cmom]

Wait awhile until your little ones get a bit bigger before you put them together. The older chicks can really hurt or kill the younger ones. As long as they can see each other the integration should go smoother. There will still be some pecking when you do put them together. The pecking order. I put mine together in the yard so the little ones can escape and get away from the older ones. Also I put out some treat do the older birds will fixate more on the treats than the younger birds

 

[redlawyer]

I brought a two day old chick into my brooder with three week olds. They really went after her! So I put her inside a guinea pig cage inside the larger brooder (huge dog crate) They still tried to peck at her but couldn't really do too much harm. They spent about a week sitting on top of her cage, soaking up the heat from the lamp I positioned for her. After about a week of keeping them separate I let them co-mingle and they've been doing great ever since. Good Luck.

 

[Gtown Farmer]

I'm having the same issue. I've tried twice to integrate a one week old rhode island red and a one week old barred rock with 4 ,3 week old araucanas and two golden comets. The araucanas are so active that it terrified the new chicks. Also, the barred rock is so much smaller than the rest and keeps get knocked around by one particular Araucana. It makes me sad to watch and to hear the little rock cry. I've had them in seaparate brooders because of this, but feel under pressure to integrate them as soon as possible. I cut a 2' section out of each brooder and popped a piece of chicken in between, then taped them together so they can all see each other. That's working fine.

Today was 90 degrees in Upstate NY, so I put a chicken wire pen in the backyard and put them all together again. Sure enough, that little bully went after that little chick repeatedly. I'm hoping another week of seeing each other in he brooder will alleviate the problem. If it doesn't, I'm going to give the araucana away.

Side note: One of my golden comets is so sweet. she "mothers" the rock and sleeps right at the entrance of the combined brooders and the rock sleeps right next to her on the other side of the fence. She's my favorite chick...always comes right to me to get picked up, etc.

Good luck with your integration and please let me know if something works particularly well for you.

 

[nursemeh]

I am very interested to see what works for you guys. I will be slowly introducing 1 week olds to 6 week olds soon. I like the giving the older group a treat so they are a bit distracted when the groups come together.

I was concerned about having the 1 week olds with their heat lamp in the run with the olds chicks. Will they burn themselves or will the know to move away?

Might not have to worry as the Texas summer is heating up this week!

I'd love to hear more ideas on integration from the more experienced!!

thanks!

 

[nursemeh]

cmom, when you say you put yours in "the yard" so the little ones can escape, do you mean free range during their meetings?

that sounds like a lovely idea- as the old chicks seem most relaxed and happy when they are free ranging.

we free range them in my very shady(lots of places to hide) yard under close supervision for a few hours each morning and evening.

they do not like going back in the run when its time :-(

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Try removing and separating the bully from the rest of the birds. I had two hens that were really aggressive so I put them in jail for a week where they could see the other birds and the other birds could see them. I understand they have to establish their pecking order, but one hen was after blood. When I let them out one was ok but one was still a bully so I would squirt her with a hose when I saw her pouncing on one of the younger birds. After a few squirts she settled down. Maybe she just got tired of being squirted.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Yes. I would get them back into the run with treats. I use the same container so they see it and associate it with treats. They will do most anything for treats. Also I did that with the coop too. Fow awhile the pullets didn't want to go into the coop in the evenings, so I started giving them scratch/grain/seeds in the coop every evening to get them in. It worked. I tried some other treats such as bread but they would grab up the bread and run back out. They couldn't do that with the scratch grains.