DurangoChickens
In the Brooder
I got my first flock of 18 last June, there are now 6 of the original 18 remaining. I decided to place another order (we have gotten through hatcheries) for chicks to come the 3rd week of April. We expanded our coop for the new batch of chicks and can have a divider of fencing between the 2 sections easily.
We went to the feed store about 7 weeks ago to get another bag of feed for the big flock, and they had gotten in their chicks... they had Yokohamas which I had been looking for for a while and had to get some, so we got 4 Yokohamas and 2 Red SexLinks (they have a minimum of 6 chicks) Within 2 days, the one male Yokohama chick that we had gotten died from what we think was Wry Neck..... so we now have 5 chicks that are just about 7 weeks old.
The next week, they got in gold and silver laced Wyandottes, which are my moms' absolute favorite, so we got 6 more of them and put them in with the chicks from the week before. (they were all supposed to be Wyandotte pullets, but we have one that looks like a rooster and has a single comb... I wonder what he could be?)
I was told that the following week, they would be getting in some mixed bantams, and I have been on the hunt for silkies.... so the next week we went back and there was one little white silkie girl in the whole batch, and because we had been coming every week, they let us just take 2 that time... so we got one white silkie and picked out another super cute lil grey chick to take home too (she turned out to be a silver polish and is the lil punk rock chick!!) The day after, we went to another feed store in a nearby town, and were able to find one buff silkie there, they let us take 3. One of the others was supposed to be a blue laced red Wyandotte (she's a speckled sussex) and what I think is a Serama chick.
When we put the newest batch of bantams in the brooder with the others, the Red SexLinks began chasing them around and pecking at their eyes, so we moved them out to the separated section of the big coop, they have been there now for about 4 weeks. The oldest Wyandotte chicks got big fast, so we moved them out to the coop with the Yokohamas and Reds. Yesterday I went to take the 5 youngest chicks out to the coop because they were starting to want to scratch and run around. When I put out yesterday afternoon, I stayed in and watched for about 2 hours and all seemed fine. I had added an extra heat lamp just to make sure that no one got too cold (it has been getting down to the low 20s at night) I filled up the food and water and then went inside for dinner... I came back out to check on them one more time before going to bed and everyone was still doing good. When I went back out this morning, they were huddled together in the corner farthest from the heat light and away from the food and water, I stayed and watched for a while to see what was happening and both the silkie and serama chicks were getting pecked and picked on a lot.
I decided to move them into another smaller section that we have for broody hens, with their own food and water. They seem to be doing good, the older chicks are very curious... and I'm hoping that keeping them separated for a few days may help?????
My hope is to have the oldest chicks integrated with the old flock within the next 4 weeks, hopefully with the bantam chicks included.... if not, I don't know what to do with them????
The next batch of day old arrives in 2 weeks and I was thinking of seeing how the bantam chicks are with them???
ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!
We went to the feed store about 7 weeks ago to get another bag of feed for the big flock, and they had gotten in their chicks... they had Yokohamas which I had been looking for for a while and had to get some, so we got 4 Yokohamas and 2 Red SexLinks (they have a minimum of 6 chicks) Within 2 days, the one male Yokohama chick that we had gotten died from what we think was Wry Neck..... so we now have 5 chicks that are just about 7 weeks old.
The next week, they got in gold and silver laced Wyandottes, which are my moms' absolute favorite, so we got 6 more of them and put them in with the chicks from the week before. (they were all supposed to be Wyandotte pullets, but we have one that looks like a rooster and has a single comb... I wonder what he could be?)
I was told that the following week, they would be getting in some mixed bantams, and I have been on the hunt for silkies.... so the next week we went back and there was one little white silkie girl in the whole batch, and because we had been coming every week, they let us just take 2 that time... so we got one white silkie and picked out another super cute lil grey chick to take home too (she turned out to be a silver polish and is the lil punk rock chick!!) The day after, we went to another feed store in a nearby town, and were able to find one buff silkie there, they let us take 3. One of the others was supposed to be a blue laced red Wyandotte (she's a speckled sussex) and what I think is a Serama chick.
When we put the newest batch of bantams in the brooder with the others, the Red SexLinks began chasing them around and pecking at their eyes, so we moved them out to the separated section of the big coop, they have been there now for about 4 weeks. The oldest Wyandotte chicks got big fast, so we moved them out to the coop with the Yokohamas and Reds. Yesterday I went to take the 5 youngest chicks out to the coop because they were starting to want to scratch and run around. When I put out yesterday afternoon, I stayed in and watched for about 2 hours and all seemed fine. I had added an extra heat lamp just to make sure that no one got too cold (it has been getting down to the low 20s at night) I filled up the food and water and then went inside for dinner... I came back out to check on them one more time before going to bed and everyone was still doing good. When I went back out this morning, they were huddled together in the corner farthest from the heat light and away from the food and water, I stayed and watched for a while to see what was happening and both the silkie and serama chicks were getting pecked and picked on a lot.
I decided to move them into another smaller section that we have for broody hens, with their own food and water. They seem to be doing good, the older chicks are very curious... and I'm hoping that keeping them separated for a few days may help?????
My hope is to have the oldest chicks integrated with the old flock within the next 4 weeks, hopefully with the bantam chicks included.... if not, I don't know what to do with them????
The next batch of day old arrives in 2 weeks and I was thinking of seeing how the bantam chicks are with them???
ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!
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! Great introduction! Sorry about the integration problem. I know the article in the following link is often recommended when folks have an integration issue: 
