Can you mix newly hatched chicks with week old chicks?

[minpinmama]

I have two brooders and one has 2 to 3 week olds and the other one week olds.
I now have one and two day olds that need to go in the brooder.
Do you think it would be ok to add the new babies to the week old brooder?

 

[TonysChickens]

My latest 4 chicks are a mix of 1 week old and 1 day olds. They got along fine and are now 2 and 3 week olds. The one day old RIR was actually bullying the others (and 1 week old) chicks.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

They will most likely be fine, just watch for any signs of aggression.

 

[Gofygure]

I had three-day old Silkies and ten-day old Speckled Sussex getting along well after only an hour or so of curious pecks. At that point they aren't really aggressive or predatory- just curious. A Sussex did grab one baby by his hairy little feet and drag him, but everyone got through it unharmed and now they're fine together.

If you're mixing standard sized birds it probably won't even be an issue.

 

[CarolJ]

Just watch them carefully when you first put them together. I've put day-olds together with other chicks up to four weeks' old, and they did great. In my experience, chicks don't seem to have the pecking order aggression that older chickens have. Day olds with 4-week olds is stretching it - but it has worked well for me twice so far.

 

[teadrinker]

I have a question to add to this thread. I see that someone has mixed 1 day olds with up to 4 week olds and that's encouraging. I'll be getting one day olds three weeks running so I'll try that. What of the temperature in the brooder though? Do you keep it higher for the littlest ones, and would that bother the older ones?

 

[Dutch552]

In ideal situations your brooder should have enough horizontal floor space that the older birds can get far enough away from the lamp to self-regulate their body temperatures. Another opition would be to invest in a Brinsea EcoGlow heater that only heats the chicks directly under the element as opposed to the entire brooder. The little chicks will go under the heater when cold and walk away when warmed up, however it uses less energy than a traditional IR bulb and doesn't heat up the whole brooder so you can get by with more diverse age groups in less physical floor space.

 

[helenw75]

Thanks for all you advise l let you know how i get on.

 

[TeaChick]

I was told not to mix different ages more than two weeks apart.
To answer your question, yes, one week would be alright.
I, personally, have had trouble blending chicks three weeks apart until they were older (at least a couple of months old) and only when they started free ranging.

 

[KHunter0911]

I have two brooders and one has 2 to 3 week olds and the other one week olds.
I now have one and two day olds that need to go in the brooder.
Do you think it would be ok to add the new babies to the week old brooder?