3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[mark_lowe]

I have 3 chicks which are 14 weeks old, when can they go with the adults? I think its 16weeks but im not sure

thank you

[migsy]

I've got 3 18 week olds and they are still smaller than the big girls so they are still separate. I think they need to be a similar size so that they can stand up for themselves.

[coco]

I've got two youngsters that are 21 and 24 weeks ols and they are only just starting to FR with the older girls even though they are bigger than the older hens.

[mark_lowe]

they are 2 chickens, the chicks are bantams and one is a cockeral, if that changes anything?

[migsy]

Are all your chickens bantams or just the chicks?

[mark_lowe]

only the chicks are bantams

[migsy]

I don't have any bantams myself but from what I have read on this forum it seems that you can't always successfully integrate bantams and full size chickens. Some people manage it but some don't. Hopefully, someone with both will be along soon to advise.

[sparkysmum]

Hi, we have adult pekins, 3 big ladies and 3 bantam chicks (17wks). All three groups currently live separately.When the pekins were little I made no attempt to integrate them for months, I just didn't want to take any chances that they would be attacked by the big ones. The pekins still have their own house and run. They do however all free range together every day without squabbling . Since I took things so slowly I had no fighting of any sort.

 

The bantam chicks are in a separate house & run & will probably stay that way for some months, although I would hope that perhaps by the winter they might have sleepovers with the pekins. I would hope that in the next few weeks that the bantam chicks & the pekins could free range together

 

I don't plan on ever being able to have them all stay together but would hope that they might all free range together one day.

 

I hope this is useful to you & good luck Alli xx

[joza2210]

I have a "growing up" wir ...

And most of my 7 - 20 week old chicks go in there with a family of japanese bantams and they are fine ...

 

But i wouldnt put them in with anything big ...

[Egluntyne]

I have always kept my three Pekins separate. One of them would pick fights with the bigger hens.

[mark_lowe]

oh ok thank you,

So it's not sounding to good to have them living together

[the bradley bunch]

i'm currently in the process of integrating a 19 week old pullet with a trio of ex-bats. they had a week of being seperated by a mesh 'see-through' fence and were fed treats on the dividing line everyday and would poke their heads through to each others side & after a few days were happily eating together.

 

after this week of 'getting to know each other' through the safety of a mesh fence, i picked one of the ex-bats to spend some time free ranging with the new chick (it was the top chook doris who seemed to spend the most time 'talking' to the new chick so i chose her), and they got on fine together and there was no pecking or squabbling at all. *the time they spent together was a short period of 30 minutes in the evening when they are most tame, and this increased to 1 hour the next day*.

 

after such a success i decided to add the other 2 girls on the following day *in the evening again*, and whilst lulu (2nd chook) had the same reaction as doris and didn't even bother with the chick, boo (who is bottom of the pecking order) was very hostile towards the new girl and made a bee-line for her straight away, which sometime resulted in lulu having a peck too if she was close by:

on the first evening of them all free ranging boo was constantly trying to get to the chick and would try to jump on her back, so we'd use a broom to seperate them to prevent any 'blood drawing' and for the chick's safety.

on the second evening boo didn't make a bee line for her but every now and again she would make a dash for the new chick, but had gone from jumping on her back to pecking her neck and holding on until we 'broomed' her (a much less aggressive form of attack).

on the third evening (last night), boo only went for the new chick when she crossed her path, and when she did attack it was just a quick peck on her neck to show her who was boss and send her on her way! (which i think is quite good progress in 3 days).

boo has brittle bones and a deformed neck & legs, she is partially blind, and has also recently began to prolapse, therefore she is very vulnerable & evidently feels very threatened by the new girl which is why she feels it necessary to keep reinstating her place above her even tho the chick has never resisted this or fought back in any way.

 

realistically we expect it to take about about a week before the pecking stops, although it should continue to lessen each day. and in a fortnight we hope to be able to put the new chook in the same house as the ex-bats.

 

at 19 weeks our chick is only slightly smaller than the ex-bats, and unlike them she has a very sharp beak & long claws so could easily defend herself if only she knew how! i think once she has grown up a bit she has a good chance at taking doris's place as top chook!

 

i don't really know whether to advise you do the same as us since you're chicks are bantams therefore will be no where near the size of your big girls. i think if our chick had not been a 'loner' and had some company then we probably would've waited until she was a bit bigger to integrate her, but she was desperate to get out with them and had been on her own for a long time before she came to us, so we took the plunge!

we're now over the worst part and no blood has been drawn and the little chook hasn't being hurt or anything, and suprisingly the next day she's always desperate to get back out with them so the 'attacks' can't have bothered her too much!

what type of bantams are your girls? i think unless they are pekins i wouldn't try integrating them until they are adults, and if they aren't pekins & if they're happy living seperately and only free ranging together then maybe leave them as they are for the long-term.

anyone who's asked about integrating large fowl with large fowl then in my experience 18 weeks is a perfectly fine age so long as there isn't a huge difference in size & you follow the proper steps...i think patience & preparation is the key

 

good luck everyone & sorry about the long post! because we're going through this experience at the moment i thought it helpful to let you know how it's been for us

[mark_lowe]

oh ty, well ive built a large walk in pen, so they have plenty of space, I will try it when they are older and see what happens, I can always sit inside with them and make sure they are ok, but ill take it slow and see what happens

 

the chicks... 1 silkie, 2 pekins (1 is a cock)

the chickens... 1 columbian blacktail, 1 speckled hen

 

thank you

[the bradley bunch]

since there are 3 of them so they out-number the bigger girls & 2 of them are pekins with 1 being a male, i think you'd be ok to try it from about 20 weeks. but you know your girls so only you can really judge when they are ready & how aggressive your speckledy & blacktail are likely to be... wouldn't it be funny if your little pekin cockeral became top chook! i've no experience with cocks but i assume eventually he will be head of the flock anyway just a funny image though!

 

i would definately take the supervised softly softly approach - with 7 days of interaction through trellising or a mesh fence & feeding treats along this dividing line (so that they can safely become familair with each other), then a further 7 days of 30-60 minutes of free ranging together in the evening time when they are least aggressive.

after this a pecking order should be established and they should be 1 single flock if you feel confident that this is the case and that most of the pecking has stopped then there's no reason why they shouldn't be able to live together in a confined space & even the same housing.

if after a week of supervised free ranging you don't feel comfortable that a pecking order has been established then just continue letting them free range together until they accept each other's presence, maybe increasing the period of time spent together each day to quicken the process, and even encouraging feeding together using treats to help them settle into a 1 flock heirarchy

 

nearly forgot to say...expect the silkie hen to be bottom of the pecking order and keep a close eye on her throughout this process as silkies are often vulnerable to bullying and aren't very hardy. is she actually a bantam silkie or just a normal silkie? either way keep a close eye on her but especially if she is of actual bantam variety ...i bet she's gorgeous - don't forget those photos once things have settled down!

[Janty]

I am in the process of integrating two pekins (20 weeks), two mini Welsummers (23 weeks) and a LF Welsummer (18 weeks) in with the others in the WIR. They are in a cube and run within the WIR and they will be kept separate for a few months. After an initial disaster trying to put a pekin in with the bigger girls years ago, I always take intros really slowly. I've never had any hassle doing it this way.

[mark_lowe]

thank you, thats helped alot, ill take it very slow and hope they all get on fine,

I dont know much about the chicks, my hen got broody, I was given a few eggs, so now l have 3 chicks

 

heres a few pics takes a few weeks ago of the chicks........

cock =

the cocks sister =

silkie = also

 

love that last picture, she looks so moody!

[migsy]

Adorable

[the bradley bunch]

oooo i'm loving the cockeral! and the silkie's hair-do is so

 

good luck with them mark! they are all such little beauties and i'm sooooooo jealous! LOL ...hurry up 2011 for my promised pekins!