All of our chickens stay in the same area and share a big run. At any time we might have a hen on eggs, a broody raising chicks, and varying ages of chicks growing out. See how we do this with our set up.
Do you feed them all chick starter until the younger ones turn 16 weeks? I have one hatchling that’s two weeks old, six that are 13 wk olds, and six that are 8 months old. I was told to stop the layer food until the littles were old enough to have it. I give the older chickens the layer feed out in the yard when they free range in the afternoons.
Our ten chicks and hen are doing great. The rooster is normally good is actinglikehe wants to attack the chicks. I supervise time out in the large chicken area giving the chicks places to hide but if he acts aggressive, I blast him with the water hose. I'd appreciate your ideas. 😢
Is he actually trying to attack them or just going by them? I haven’t had a problem with my roosters before, but it may be a breed thing, too. My roosters usually enjoy the chicks and will hang around them - unless the mom attacks him. 😂. If he is trying to attack them then I’d suggest he isn’t a good rooster and maybe he needs to go. In the meantime separate him to protect the babies.
I noticed I don't hear any roosters and they weren't mentioned. Can you please address this question? Like will they try to kill the babies? Or matte them?? Surely not... But I had a mom that sat on 12 eggs, hatched 6 and then started killing 2 and tried to get the ones another mom hatched. I finally had to remove her and our her back with the flock and let the other mom raise them. Now I need to mix them (11 two-three mo. olds left that weren't killed) all in with the big flock (year old too & 9 hens) along with another tiny flock (very young roo+5 hens)... It's making me crazy to have all these separate .. Like you mentioned. Other challenge is Hawks so I definitely need my roosters!
I put them together with that age difference, but he sure to watch them. You may need to separate them for a bit if they pick on the little guys. Let us know how it goes!
