When should I put my baby chicks with the older chickens?

[indego_88]

My 2 Wyandotte babies are 10 weeks old and my 4 older chickens are around 25-27 weeks… are my younger ones old enough to go in with the big ones?

 

[moduckman]

here's what I would do. One afternoon when I had time to watch them, put the younger ones out. The dominant birds will show them who's boss right away. If they don't continue to hound the younger ones after an hour or so, it is okay.

 

[HorseFeathers]

We put ours in a fenced-off section of the coop for a week or two, so everyone would get used to everyone else... They let them out with the rest. Worked fine.

 

[MsBentleyboy]

I placed my babies in a large cage inside the coop so the others could get used to them. After the babies were about 4 weeks old I let them out and I never saw one inch of trouble with any of the birds. They all got along as though they had always been together.

The only thing you might need to be careful of is the weather. I mixed my chickens in the summer months while it was really hot and there was no need for a heat lamp. I'm sure you would need to have heat wherever you are this time of year.

Good luck!

 

[indego_88]

thanks for your replies.. i actually tired putting them in there with the other chickens earlier today but as soon as they got pecked they panicked completely and ran around madly. I hated seeing that happen so I took them out and put them in the cage which is next to the big ones.
Is it really bad if they get pecked a bit? Can a chick get badly injured?