Hi, I have 9 chicks atm all around 1 month to 5 weeks old and I've been wondering what age is safe to put them back in with the older chickens and rooster?
Mine will be moved when they are feathered out, but they are with Mama and she will probably help them out a little. The last time I had chicks on their own, I waited till they were almost as big as the flock. I think they were about 4 months old. You probably don't have to wait quite that long. I started integrating them into the flock by first ranging them together for about a week so they could be introduced to each other, then I moved them in with the big girls.
when they get all their feathers is probly a good time.and make sure they are big enough. but first wat i would do is when your getting ready to put them in there i would get 2 or 3 chicks and put them in with the big chickens and see if they are going to be ok in there. the best tim wold probly be 30 mins befor they roost.
The way we did it was we let them play together in the big run, with me in it too, when they were around 3-4 weeks (it was warm outside). Then I moved their cage into the run. Then I moved them into our bottom coop. The door can be open halfway. The chicks can go in and out into the run but the hens cannot go in. They venture out, if a hen comes at them they run into their coop. I have food and water inside theirs so that if they do not want to come out, they dont have to. They do quite often. This has been about a week (they are 5-6 weeks now) and the hens are starting to tolerate them, except during treat time. I have to give a bunch of treats to the hens and then run over to the opening of their coop and drop some treats there. (They grab them and run it. Though I gave them some pieces of a plum and a couple of the chicks ran and took them out of the barred rocks' beaks and then ran into their coop! I thought that was pretty brave, I guess that is how much they love plums! It was funny too cause the chicks run faster than the hens and those girls sure tried to catch them lol.
Quote:x2, and even then, keep an eye out for severe bullying. When I was integrating last year's chicks with the ones from the year before, I made sure there were two feeders and waterers at opposite ends of the pen.
Mine will be moved when they are feathered out, but they are with Mama and she will probably help them out a little. She will defend them while she's raising them, but when she's done with that job, that's it. She'll be as much a danger to her chicks as any other full grown hen. The way a hen communicates to her chicks that it's time to grow up is by pecking them, hard, whenever they come over near her. The way I noticed my broodies were done being moms was I started hearing these little shrieks coming from the broody pens. I went over to investigate, and discovered this behavior. It was time to separate the chicks and put them in their own grow out pen.
I would not put young ones in with laying hens until they are close to the same size. I have tried in the past and they try to kill them and all of my hens are very calm, friendly breeds, so with that being said you might end up losing a few if you don't wait.
