When to introduce my new chicks to my week-olds...

[ssledoux]

I am getting some new chicks tomorrow (should get that PO call in the morning). This is a second shipment because not enough Cuckoo Marans hatched to fill my order. I now have some that were received last week that are 9 days old tomorrow and don't know how or when to introduce them to my newbies that will arrive tomorrow.

Should I keep them separated for several days, weeks, or what?? I've never had this happen before.

BTW, I have about 18 and am getting 10 more.

 

[aberfitch]

yes keep seperate untill babies are more stable or they will get trappled by the bigger birds

 

[Jolyn]

Well i had gotten seven chicks and then decided a week later to get two more. They were a week younger. I just added them and they are doing just fine.

The guy at the feed store and a friend said they would be fine.

I'm new at this though so what do i know???

 

[ssledoux]

Well, I got the newbies today and I want to give them at least a couple of days to get situated and get some strength up. My week-olds (well, 10 days now) are really a good bit bigger and jumping around flapping their little wings so I want to make sure these can keep up.

Now, when the time does come in a few days, how do I introduce them all??

 

[ScottK]

Just put them together. I did and they are now 3 and 4 weeks old. My wiffe worried about it - I did not and they are fine.

 

[jdr250]

I put my newly shipped chicks in with my 8 day olds and aside from a bit of bullying the first hour or so, they all are doing well. The first day, the older chicks grouped together and the younger ones in their own group but now they all sleep together. My araucana is the littlest one in there (just a tiny little thing) and she pushes everyone around. I do have a pretty decent sized brooder so when the older ones decide it's time to try and fly off the roost the little ones just duck and cover. Only problem I have is that the little ones follow the older ones onto the roost and the one cornish is clumsy and falls off and lands on his back then gets stuck and you have to roll him over. So I guess the only problem I have is the older ones are a bad influence on the younger ones...lol
But listen to the advice of the more experienced people on here, this is my first experience with chicks.

 

[MissPrissy]

I would give the new chicks 1 day alone to make sure they are all eating and drinking well without problems. Then if everything looks normal and healthy go ahead and mix them.

 

[ruth]

The newly shipped chicks will be weak and will need immediate attention and be sure they are eating and drinking. After a couple of days when they are strong and running around and eating and drinking just put them in with the others. They'll work it out. The others aren't old enough to do serious harm to the ones 10 days younger. After a couple of hours they'll be one big happy family.

 

[pdrushrush]

We have 29 chicks that arrived from the hatchery on April 21 and 4 chicks that we purchased on April 12, one of which was hatched that day(Fuzzworth is his/her name) and three that were I would guess at least a week old.
The four have been together from the start and they have gotten on well, despite the 1 week age difference.
I kept the brand new 29 chicks seperate from the start and after 2 or 3 days I put Fuzzworth in with the new chicks and he/she went crazy, pecking furiously at any chick that he came near to. We took him/her back out after a few minutes.
A week later, we tried again. New chicks were much larger and more stable now, and Fuzzworth was much more friendly. We left him in there for an hour or so and there were no problems.
Tonight, I'll try putting one of the older original 3 chicks in with the babies and see what happens. I need everyone to be friendly and sharing the coop by June 1 since I have 25 bantam chicks coming and they will be needing the brooder!

 

[ruth]

They will do their little attacking/pecking thing for the first hour maybe but as long as there's plenty of room they can get away from each other, they'll be fine. It's normal for them to do that the first few minutes. Kind of "Hey you're in my face...who are you and who ya mama?"