When to blend 15 chicks (hens) with 2 adult Bantam Roos?

[kile529]

I tried searching the forum for the answer, but everyone seemed to have adult hens and Roos they were trying to blend their pullets/chicks with. Ive kept my girls in a "coop within a coop" for 5 weeks now (they're about 6 weeks old) and they've gotten comfortable sitting by the edge of the fence while the Roos are right there by them. The bantam Roos were my mom's....and her hens just started laying today.....so they're not "real old". When would it be okay to blend the girls in with the two boys? I'm not sure how agressive the boys might be....
What are your thoughts??

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

The safe answer is 4 months old.

If you are blending a large number in with a small number of older ones, you can often get by with it depending on the breed.

At six weeks old they will still put their tushies in the air and hide their faces in a corner when attacked. It will get a little better by 8 weeks and even better by 10 weeks. They really advance quickly at this age. So the longer you wait, the better.

Some do not have the facilities to wait 4 months. I have done it both ways in my coops.