Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: wardy on May 08, 2014, 10:44
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Morning everyone. I have managed to successfully incubate and hatch six out of six eggs. They are now six weeks old and i have put them in their own coop and run in with the older girls so hopefully they will get used to each other, can anyone tell me how old they should be when they join the others ( three).Also the youngster will be on growers pellets and the others on layers.will it do the young ones any horm if they eat the layers pellets too young?. Any advise welcomed :unsure:
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If memory serves me right, I stand to be corrected, there may be too much calcium in it which may affect bone development. :)
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Introducing any new birds can be a nightmare. Personally I think that no hens should be introduced before they are in full lay and mature enough to handel the inevitable stress.
Mixing very young birds with older ones is heading for disaster in a confined run. Hens can be brutally bullied to the point of blood being drawn and sometimes even death. I won't even contemplate it till the pullets are at least 22 wks old and in lay. Sorry if this sounds hard but young birds just can't cope with the stress and can fall victim to illnesses as well
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Congratulations on your successful hatching. :D
I would agree with Hen Addict here. The pullets need to be at least roughly the same size before being introduced.
The other issue is with feed. The young ones need to be on growers pellets until they are about point of lay and then introduced gradually to layers pellets. The high calcium in layers pellets can cause kidney problems for hens that start eating them too young.
A third point is to consider what you are going to do about the young cockerels. With the usual proportion of hatching being 70% cockerels to 30% hens you are likely to have more than one cockerel among your young chicks. This is going to cause trouble when they are adults as they will fight - particularly in the spring time.
Good luck and how about some pictures!
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I put the youngsters in with the others once they reach 18 weeks old. That way they are old enough to eat the same feed and strong enough to get out of the way of any trouble the older birds may want to give them.
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I suppose it depends on your set up. As we have loads of space our's start to go out into their own run inside the layer's huge space at about four weeks if the weather is good, six weeks if it's cool. Then the access hole is opened wide enough for the chicks to go in and out as they see fit. They have a good feed in the morning and evening and crumbs in the mini run. The layer's food is suspended and they can't reach the feeders. We have been hatching for two years now and have never had an injured chick. After the initial interest the hens just take passing swipes and the chicks head for the bolt hole if they are feeling threatened. Most are reserved before they reach full size, but the misfits which end up with my girls decide when they feel comfortable enough to go to bed the big girls but can use the nursery as long as they want.
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I have always used broody hens and after their morning feed they have followed their mums around intermingling with the others. The broodies usually take them into the main coop at around 6 weeks but I do have to watch they get their own feed and stop the big girls eating it.
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Hi, we have decided to partition the run so the girls can get used to the youngsters and when the right time comes let them free to mingle together, i will put some pictures of them later,hope you like them.
Thankyou for all of your replies :) :) :) :)
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Hi, we have decided to partition the run so the girls can get used to the youngsters and when the right time comes let them free to mingle together, i will put some pictures of them later,hope you like them.
Thankyou for all of your replies :) :) :) :)
was just going to suggest this method - we had 4 six week old chicks once and partitioned them off and at night I put some mesh across one of the nest boxes and popped them in there , this way the older birds could see the youngsters but not able to bully or fight
can't wait to see your pics :D
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Hi, we have decided to partition the run so the girls can get used to the youngsters and when the right time comes let them free to mingle together, i will put some pictures of them later,hope you like them.
Thankyou for all of your replies :) :) :) :)
This has worked for me and is the kindest way to do it for all concerned. :)
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Hi,
This is number 4 that hatched whilst we popped out shopping! <3
: )
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These are the chicks at 1 day old :)
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very cute, fingers crossed for females :)
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Hi,
Does anybody know how to put more pictures up as it is saying that I have gone over the limit?
I have more pictures to post, thanks.
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Wardy, try starting a new topic in chicken chat to see if you can post there - we do try to keep this hen house for problems and your new chicks are far from a problem, they are simply gorgeous :)
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awwww so cute :D