When can I put my chicks together?

[-Olive-]

Hi there, I currently have three fuzzy little week old chicks, and two four week old chicks. Just wondering when they can all go together as there’s only three weeks between them.

Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

I would expect they can go together sometime between now and a month from now, depending on how they act when you try it. In general, the sooner you can put them together, the easier it is. But you do need to make sure the little ones don't get stepped on. Since your little ones are a week old, they are probably agile enough to be fine.

I would try putting them together now and watch what happens. It might work, or it might not. Just be ready to pull the big ones out if they pick on the babies. The more space they have (big brooder or coop), the more likely it is to work well.

If putting them together does not work yet, you can use wire mesh (like hardware cloth) to divide a large space into two parts, and have each group in one side. That lets them see each other and get to know each other, but keeps the big ones from picking on the little ones. A week of living side-by-side will probably let you put them together without too much fuss (at which point they will be 2 weeks and 5 weeks.)

 

[-Olive-]

I would expect they can go together sometime between now and a month from now, depending on how they act when you try it. In general, the sooner you can put them together, the easier it is. But you do need to make sure the little ones don't get stepped on. Since your little ones are a week old, they are probably agile enough to be fine.

I would try putting them together now and watch what happens. It might work, or it might not. Just be ready to pull the big ones out if they pick on the babies. The more space they have (big brooder or coop), the more likely it is to work well.

If putting them together does not work yet, you can use wire mesh (like hardware cloth) to divide a large space into two parts, and have each group in one side. That lets them see each other and get to know each other, but keeps the big ones from picking on the little ones. A week of living side-by-side will probably let you put them together without too much fuss (at which point they will be 2 weeks and 5 weeks.)

Brilliant, thank you. They have been together several days now and Not going too bad! The bigger ones do occasionally chase the little ones around but they’re not constantly going at it. One little one though seems to have a wing injury. It’s holding it out from it’s body slightly the last couple days, but it can still flap, fly, and I can’t actually see any damage.