When to add new chicks to older chicks

[4H kids and mom]

I'm ordering more chicks. Thats it. I cant stand it any longer! I have FAR too many requests for eggs! To meet the demand, we are going to expand the coop to 12'L x 14'W (its 12x10 right now) and the pen to 25.5'L x 17.5'W (its 25.5x13.5' right now) to accomidate more chickens. That'd be 614.25 TOTAL sq. ft...but we may be able to make it a wee bit bigger. Will that be big enough for a toal of 35 chickens (32 hens/3 roos)?

Here's what we're thinking of ordering: 5 Cuckoo Marans, 2 RIRs, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Black Stars, and 2 New Hampshire Reds for brown eggs, and: 5 California Whites, and 5 Brown Leghorns for white eggs. These will be only pullets this time around. lol

I think 3 roos to 32 hens is a pretty good ratio!

Basically, the area I live in has a lot of farmers, but NO chicken farmers! We have horses, cows, pigs...all around here, but no one with chickens! Everyone wants my eggs, and they aren't even laying yet!

As far as actual demand goes:

I have 5 people that want a dozen WHITE eggs each week. If I get the 10 white egg layers, I figure ROUGHLY 8 eggs a day, thats 18 dozen a month, which is just about what I need (a little less, but close enough).

I have 4 people that want a dozen LIGHT BROWN eggs each week. If I get the 8 brown layers, I figure about 7 eggs a day, thats 16 dozen a month which is just about exactly what I need.

I have 2 people that want a dozen DARK BROWN eggs each week, and 1 that wants a dozen every two weeks. If I get the 5 Marans, at roughly 4 eggs a day, thats a little over 9 dozen a month which is about right.

Then I have people all over town that want the blue/green eggs. I figure with the 17 hens I have, I'll get about 15 eggs a day, or 35 dozen a month, which I'll easily be able to sell off at $3/doz to pay for everyone's feed.

Plus, in between all this, I have people that would want hatching eggs if I had them, or baby chicks if I bred them and had a surplus.

Wow. I went WAY off topic! lol Sorry!

So, anywho, my question is WHEN can I add the NEW chicks to the current ones who are just under 6 weeks old?

 

[CashmereSussex]

well you can at anystage providing the chicks have enough room to get away from the others if they decide to attack

 

[mamabird]

When we got our chickens, we had TONS of people wanting eggs. After a few weeks of selling to friends and neighbors, the number of "orders" dropped off. People still want eggs if we call them and deliver, but they won't call or come get them. In a rural area, that can add up to a LOT of driving!

My advice, check with a local farmer's market or small "mom and pop" store. That's where we sell almost all of our eggs now, at the rate of 10 doz. per week. If someone calls wanting eggs fine, but the shop owner takes all that we have. Good luck!

 

[justusnak]

mamabird.....same thing happend to me....seems at first, everyone wants them...at a dollar a dozen who wouldnt? Well....NO ONE wanted to come get them...they wanted me to deliver...I just cant. I live 15 min from town. So, I take my eggs to a local hardware store...and they sell them for me...$1.00/doz....I can either get cash or store credit. I heard the egg prices are going to skyrocket in price...so I bought 18 Buff orps. Ohhhh, they BETTER still want eggs!! LOL Oh, for the close family members..they save me cartons...and we trade for eggs. Some of my older customers...they get 2 doz a week....I get a bag of layer pellets a month. Good trade I think!

 

[4H kids and mom]

So, if I am going to add more to the flock, is it better to do it now while they are all kinda small, or wait?

Will the almost 6 weekers pick on the new ones REALLY bad, or just a bit?

 

[mamabird]

I had 6 week olds and added 4 week olds, and the older ones DID pick. Eventually everyone found their place and they get along fine - no casualties. I now have 1 year olds and have added 4 week olds and there is some picking, but.... I leaned a piece of plywood up in the corner of my coop and that way the 4 week olds can run behind and get away from the bigger hens who are too big to fit behind. The older birds go out during the day but the young ones aren't interested in going out yet, so they have the coop to themselves. We have had them together for 4 days and the older hens aren't as interested in them as they were at first.

In a nutshell - expect picking, keep an eye on them, but things should work themselves out since they are young. Good luck!

 

[4H kids and mom]

Alright. I am going to order them this week.

I'll brood them in the house for a few weeks and then try introducing them. The older chicks should be about 8 weeks when the new chicks are about 3 weeks. Its warming up now and the chicks we have now spend nearly all day outside, so the little ones would have the coop to themselves too. I may devide off a section of the coop for the little bitties if there is TOO much picking to let them get a bit bigger so the can fight back! lol Hope this works!