A little background:
I have 6 four week old chicks, growing like weeds. :)
Hubby just finished a portable run for them, it's 6ft x 4 ft 4in
and 3 ft high in the middle. It's on skids so I can move it
about the yard.
The coop will be delivered in a day or two. It's an old children's playhouse. Friends of ours have been looking for a way to get rid of it!!! :) It's a win/win for bot of us. It's 5ft deep, 5ft wide and 8 ft long.
Here's the question. A friend of my friend has 8 full grown girls that are heavy layers and he needs to get rid of them.
If I take them, will my chicks be okay with the adults? I've read that I should separate them, but keep them where they can see other for about a week until they are used to each other and THEN let them mingle.
I may be paranoid, but I'm worried about my girls catching something. Right now I have no idea what shape these chickens are in, I'm assuming they are healthy.
I feed my girls an organic diet and they have started free-ranging (chicken tractor style) for the last week or so, now that it's warmed up. I don't know what this man feeds his girls, would it harm them to switch their diet? I don't want to deal with two different kinds of food.
Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?? :)
Thanks,
Michelle
Mixing chickens question
Ms Katt: I would never mix my flock with another I know nothing about. It is impossible to know what foreign birds might pass on to your flock. If you have a place to seperate his flock for a month then ok. Putting them together runs the risk of disease as well as adult birds picking on young pullets. Caution!!! I think would be how I approach it.
I wish you every success. Haystack
Thank you Haystack. That's the decision I was leaning on, but I tend to be overly cautious. :) I'm not going to take them. It would have been nice to have the eggs sooner rather than later, but I don't want to take a chance with my babies. :)
Probably a wise decision on your part. It also shows me you are a responsible owner and a good caretaker of your girls. I like that, but most of all your girls will like that. Haystack