When to introduce to flock?

[Sclark0012]

I have 6 chicks. Im not sure of their age, ill have to post pictures of them in a bit.. my guess is around 7 to 9weeks?? I got them at Rural King. I have a 5 and a half month old cockerel with 4 hens at the moment. I am not sure when i can introduce the babies to the flock. Im worried because i have a young cockerel... will they be ok if i do? I have them separate in the coop, so they all know that babies exist, can see and smell them. Should I wait?

 

[Sally PB]

Some more information will help us help you. How big are your coop and run, in square feet? Where are you located? How old are the hens? As far as the chicks go, were they purchased as pullets, or straight run? Do you know their genders?

It sounds like you are already doing the "see, don't touch," which is a good start.

 

[mcdze]

theyre all still pretty young , so yeah with enough space they'll likely be ok .. i'd have seperate feeding stations and especially watch them around roosting time .. if space is limited that could be a problem and you might have to put them up seperated for awhile .. i have some younger ones atm and night night time its a war zone around the coop so they still go up in a fenced off end and i have them on their own feeding schedule where they eat in their fenced off area .. so that works out good when they see me with 'their' can and they come a runnin jumping on my arm etc lol .. outside the coop the young ones do fine with the others but keep to their own social group and likely will until full maturity .. when they get 'closer' to full size they can get in the coop with the others and that will come naturally as they explore and you can feel it out as to when they can stake out a spot and not get beat up ..

 

[Sclark0012]

Some more information will help us help you. How big are your coop and run, in square feet? Where are you located? How old are the hens? As far as the chicks go, were they purchased as pullets, or straight run? Do you know their genders?

It sounds like you are already doing the "see, don't touch," which is a good start.

Not really sure on sizing. Coop is like around 81sq ft and run is around 1,100 sq ft. North America. Purchased as chicks. Idk the difference of what you're saying, I'm very new to this. All female. My hens are around 3 years old, they were given to me when we moved a month ago

 

[Sally PB]

North America.

We don't need you specific location, but knowing what state helps by letting us know your climate at this time of year. What I have in Michigan is waaaay different from someone in Florida, for example, and people would suggest different things.

were they purchased as pullets, or straight run

When you buy chicks, they are designated as "pullets," ie, girls, or "straight run," which means they could be either sex. If there was no designation, assume straight run.

When they sex birds as chicks, they do what's called "vent sexing," and separate the boys and girls. The problem is, vent sexing is about 90% accurate, so you can still end up with cockerels. Sounds like you know you have all pullets, so that is a good thing.

If my math is correct, you have 11 birds, correct? 81 square feet in your coop should be enough, and it sounds like you have a big run. Perhaps try letting them out together, under supervision, in the run, where there is plenty of space for the younger birds to get away. Places for them to hide behind or under things can help a lot, as long as it's not a dead end where they can get trapped.

As mcdze said, have several feeders and waterers, so the older birds can't keep the new ones away from food and water.

 

[Sclark0012]

We don't need you specific location, but knowing what state helps by letting us know your climate at this time of year. What I have in Michigan is waaaay different from someone in Florida, for example, and people would suggest different things.



When you buy chicks, they are designated as "pullets," ie, girls, or "straight run," which means they could be either sex. If there was no designation, assume straight run.

When they sex birds as chicks, they do what's called "vent sexing," and separate the boys and girls. The problem is, vent sexing is about 90% accurate, so you can still end up with cockerels. Sounds like you know you have all pullets, so that is a good thing.

If my math is correct, you have 11 birds, correct? 81 square feet in your coop should be enough, and it sounds like you have a big run. Perhaps try letting them out together, under supervision, in the run, where there is plenty of space for the younger birds to get away. Places for them to hide behind or under things can help a lot, as long as it's not a dead end where they can get trapped.

As mcdze said, have several feeders and waterers, so the older birds can't keep the new ones away from food and water.

Thank you so much! Sorry about all of that. Im in Indiana. Im still learning all the chicken lingo lol. Im working on it! All of that is very helpful! I may wait another week or so. I still have the heat lamp on for the babies, but some were already roosting when i check on them, outside of the heat lamp. I just got home from town and ill upload a pic. Maybe you can help me figure out how old they may be

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since they're already in see but not touch mode, you might want to go ahead and let them out on a day you can supervise and see what happens. I believe in integrating very early, but I also set up to do so by raising the chicks outdoors in view of the flock (which are you doing) and providing a lot of feeding spots and hiding spots to allow the chicks to run away from the older birds as needed. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/ - you can skip the brooder part and go about halfway down to see tips for setting up for early integration.

 

[Sclark0012]

I have 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Golden Comets. Not sure on age. Hopefully this helps

 

[Flat Earth]

Looks like there around a month old?

 

[Sclark0012]

Looks like there around a month old?

Well ive had them for over 4 weeks already. They were bigger when i got them as well. They already had feathers when i got them, no fluff.