Luvachicken Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 The summer holidays are almost over for me and I really wanted to have sorted everything out before I went back. Losing 2 out of my 4 chicks and buying 2 new, younger ones has complicated things. Do I introduce the 2 new chicks to the 2 older chicks and then later add those to the 2 original chickens ? Or do I just put them all in together ? At the moment I think the 2 younger ones are still a bit small but I think they might be alright with the bigger chicks. Any ideas which is the best way to do it ? Any advice much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I'd start by free ranging them all togeather for a few days under supervision of course so they and you can see who is going to be a problem.is there a big age difference between the 3 groups? I tend to add the 'new' girls to the group at night (normally a Friday ) them let them all get on with it as long as no real harm is done but any newbies I've had in the last 2 years have been free ranging with the mob from a few days old with a broody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 My 2 original chickens are about 1and a 1/2, the big chicks are 18 weeks old, and the chicks I bought I was told were 13 weeks - but other forum members thought they looked younger than that - so I'm not so sure about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimi5 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Hi, you could put the growers together and then once they are 6 months old add them all to your exsisting girls. But you need enough space. How big are your orginals? I think the advice is add youngsters once they are the same size as the adults to hold their own. Also it's best that they are all old enough to be on the same feed. Growers aren't supposed to have oyster shell while their still growing either. I added chicks from 2 different hatches 2 weeks apart in age, but all pekins together and that went ok. Then the plan is to add the 3 girls to my cockerel and their mums in the cube, once they are 5-6 months old. Also free ranging them together is a good idea. Mine kind of do that now all be it there's wire around the babies, but they all get up close!! I think like alot of things with chickens it's personal choice, they will have to work out the pecking order. Keep us posted as to what you do and how it goes!! Best wishes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 My 2 originals are wyandotte bantams. The older chicks are a pekin bantam and a buff plymouth rock. The new chicks are both pekins too. At the moment the wyandottes are in the 3 metre wire run of the cube. The bigger chicks have the wooden part of the run right next to the wyandottes with a catbox to sleep in, and the babies are in a rat/hamster cage and have no view of the other chickens at all. Do you think it would be a good idea to put the little chicks inside in their cage first to meet the bigger chicks ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 they 18 week olds are about old enough to go in with the 'big' girls as they are just about old enough to go onto layers rations the 13 week olds need another 5 or 6 weeks on growers if it were me I'd move the babies so that every one can see each other and start FR the 2 sets of older girls togeather for a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
