Can You Put Baby Chicks With Older Hens
Keeping a lawn chicken coop is a fantastic way to ensure your family unit always has delicious fresh eggs on hand. And if your household's demand for eggs is on the rise for 1 reason or another—growing kids, more mouths to feed, or maybe even a new poly peptide-rich diet—y'all may exist considering calculation more chickens to your coop. Only information technology's not quite as simple every bit picking upward some baby chicks and leaving them to fend for themselves alongside your hens. Your new chicks must exist introduced properly to avert being bullied—or worse. Requite your new chicks the best chance of successfully integrating into the flock with these useful tips.
How many chicks should I bring home?
It'south generally advisable to introduce at least iii baby chicks at a time to the older hens. Chickens are flock animals, and tend to do amend in groups with other birds of a similar age. If y'all bring home any less than 3 chicks and 1 of them doesn't make it, you'll be left with a lonely little chick, which can atomic number 82 to a number of issues. Chickens are social creatures, and baby chicks practise amend in a flock when they help each other and abound upward together.
When purchasing baby chicks, information technology's recommended to friction match the newcomers to your current flock. Choosing a mix of breeds is more successful when y'all already have an assortment of breeds. However, if your flock is primarily one brood, you'll desire to stick with the same breed when purchasing new baby chicks and then they'll be more accepting of the newcomers.
The numbers thing every bit well. Add at least three babe chicks when yous're looking to abound your flock. There's power in numbers; consider adding an equal amount of babe chicks to the current number of chickens. For instance, if you have five hens, you may want to add together five baby chicks to residual the numbers equally and improve your chances for successfully integrating the newcomers into your flock.
Another important annotation: make certain you have adequate infinite in your coop for all new additions. It'due south important to avoid crowding your birds—ensure every chicken in your flock has at least two square feet of inside living space away from the elements where they tin can (literally) spread their wings. You can learn more about how to heighten chickens hither.
WHEN CAN I INTRODUCE THE NEW CHICKS TO THE FLOCK?
Baby chicks must be raised on their own to an absolute minimum age of six weeks old before being introduced to the rest of your flock. If possible, expect until your pullets (immature, non-laying hens) are 8-12 weeks sometime before making the introduction.
Chickens are extremely territorial, and volition ofttimes hurt or even kill newcomers if an introduction isn't done properly. Continue in mind that every flock has its own personality when it comes to all-around new members—even chickens that are gentle with human handlers may be ruthless when information technology comes to bullying newbies (after all, the phrase "pecking gild" exists for a reason.) In some cases, the older hens will intimidate new baby chicks then badly that they'll stop trying to consume and drink
HOW TO SAFELY INTRODUCE YOUR NEW CHICKS
The skilful news is that there are several steps yous tin take to make sure the introduction goes smoothly:
- Introduce iii or more new chicks to the flock at a time—they'll be able to support each other and will hopefully forestall the older chickens from beating up on any of them too much.
- A gradual introduction is a good idea—put your young pullets in a pet carrier or enclosure on the other side of the fence so the older chickens can get used to the sight and smell of them, which often makes the transition much easier for all.
- When it's time to put the new pullets in the same coop as your older hens, consider a stealth after-night functioning. If y'all introduce the newbies after your older hens take bedded down for the night, their presence in the morning won't come as such a stupor.
Yous may as well want to consider putting your older hens in a second enclosure for a few hours and so the younger chickens can find the food and water without existence chased off and intimidated. Doing this a couple of hours a twenty-four hour period for a few days tin make the transition easier when it'due south time for them to all live together.
To give your newcomers some refuge, consider adding some escape routes for the still-developing pullets. An like shooting fish in a barrel, economical solution is to place paper-thin boxes in the coop, with cutouts small enough for a younger hen to escape, merely besides large for your older hens to fit through. Giving the newbies a identify to get away from the bullying can help them stay salubrious and confident until the older hens become acclimated to having them around.
Overall, continue an eye on things until all your chickens are used to living together. As your baby chicks abound and brainstorm to lay eggs, they'll become more integrated with the older hens. The flock will be happy again, and the egg product will evidence it.
Even so accept questions virtually the best fashion to add new chicks to your flock? Stop by your local IFA Country Store to gather some knowledge from our poultry and creature health experts—we've seen it all, and we're happy to aid!
Information for this article was provided past Sandie Shupe, Poultry, Rabbit & Animal Wellness Manager, Ogden IFA Country Store; Maureen Goodrich, Poultry, Rabbit, Pet & Tack Manager, Logan IFA Land Store; and Jill Singleton, Bagged Feed Category Manager, IFA.
© Copyright IFA Country Stores. All Rights reserved.
cardenasmorove1951.blogspot.com
Source: https://ifacountrystores.com/2020/chickens/introduce-new-chicks-to-flock/
0 Response to "Can You Put Baby Chicks With Older Hens"
Post a Comment