Do you think it’s important to raise and socialize your own chicks?

[Witchychickens]

I have a friend who is currently raising my chicks because we don’t have a coop yet (it’s in construction now) and I wasn’t sure where to raise them. I’ve since figured that out.

She loves hatching. She is full of chickens but wanted to hatch and offered to hatch me some. I also wanted a couple specific breeds. I found a hatchery one state over that had all my specifics. I picked them up this weekend. I brought them to my friend who hatched 7 the week or so before.

I got 5 specific breeds from the hatchery and will take 2-3 more from her (depending on my silkies and if they turn out to be Roos) for a total flock of 8.

I have 2 questions, firstly, I’m having second thoughts about her raising them. She’s fabulous and I trust her but I want my chicks and I want to raise and socialize them with my kids. The reason we didn’t do this is because I cannot have a rooster here (I love them and wish I could).

Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens. We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

I’m simply trying to decide how to handle this.

Any input would be lovely.

 

[azygous]

The advantage of raising your own chicks on your own premises, beside having the day-olds imprint on you, is that they will develop resistance to your local pathogens during the first two weeks where their immune systems are open to producing antibodies.

Chicks raised elsewhere will not have these antibodies and could become sick when brought to your place. This happens commonly.

It's so tempting to get those cute baby chicks before you have the proper housing for them, but it's so much easier on chicks if you're prepared when they come. People new to chickens may be unaware that chicks will be ready for a coop at four to five weeks.

 

[Witchychickens]

I just wanted to update that we went and got our chicks. I just couldn’t get over this nagging feeling that I needed to get them. When I arrived, one didn’t make it. I won’t get into that. I’m really upset.

She decided to keep hers and didn’t want to give us the couple we discussed, anyway. We ended up being able to round out our flock elsewhere at a local hatchery that a friend used, she came with me and helped me get all set up.

The others are here and they are ok, hiding under the brooder and cheeping slowly and happily.

Our coop and run is going to be ready early May when they’ll be ready to go out. They’re warm and safe in our basement bedroom.

 

[NatJ]

Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens. We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

Depending on how much space you have to raise chicks, maybe you could raise yours and all of hers, then return all males to her once they are old enough to be accurately sexed.

That would save you any bother with introducing chicks, because they would all be raised together.
Your friend would have to either dispatch the males or introduce them to her flock, but she would have to do one of those things anyway.

Of course this would only work if you have enough space for the whole group of chicks, and if your friend agrees.

 

[TaylorGlade]

We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

I’m simply trying to decide how to handle this.

Any input would be lovely.

Sexing chicks is something that needs to be left to professionals or they can really be hurt badly. Unless you are referring to an autosexing/sex-link breed and that just takes a little practice.

We prefer to raise our own for all the reasons @azygous mentioned. And if you have kids, it's a beautiful learning experience.

As far as adding more hens later - yes. You would have to do slow intros later, but you will have to do that with any new birds no matter the age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m having second thoughts about her raising them. She’s fabulous and I trust her but I want my chicks and I want to raise and socialize them with my kids. The reason we didn’t do this is because I cannot have a rooster here (I love them and wish I could). Mine were sexed and I can return them if they’re not hens.

I would not let this reason stop me. While some cockerels can, maybe, might, sometimes but not often start crowing at a pretty young age most wait until later. You should have plenty of time to identify the boys and get rid of them before there are any problems. You have a place for them to go, this should simplify things.

We both aren’t great at sexing yet so I’m not sure if I can raise mine until 6 weeks and then add 2-3 of hers then or would I have to do slow intros?

You never know how integrations will go. It sounds like they will all be the same age. You might be able to just put them together and they will be fine or they may fight or bully. I'd try putting them together and be prepared to slowly integrate if it proved necessary.

The advantage of raising your own chicks on your own premises, beside having the day-olds imprint on you, is that they will develop resistance to your local pathogens during the first two weeks where their immune systems are open to producing antibodies.

Chicks raised elsewhere will not have these antibodies and could become sick when brought to your place. This happens commonly.

That's not limited to the first two weeks. Plenty of people keep their chicks in a sterile brooder for the first 4 weeks or more so the first time they are exposed is after they leave the brooder. They can still develop the immunities or resistance they need. It happens all of the time.

Besides, they will be swapping chicks back and forth, especially if some prove to be cockerels. I strongly believe in biosecurity but in this scenario I think you watch for symptoms and treat for whatever (if anything) shows up. Often it is nothing and usually if anything shows up it is more of an inconvenience than a threat. It is always possible you can get something that will totally wipe out your flock, that does happen. But if the friend's flock is still there the risk of that happening is greatly reduced.

 

[nuthatched]

I'm confused as to why you came into this thread to claim other people are wrong and then linked some guys thoughts on hormones. I'm a professional falconer who trains wild animals and I have owned chickens for three decades too. No need to come in and pretend everyone else is dumb except you.

This is a public forum, people are allowed to express their opinions and disagree sometimes.

 

[Witchychickens]

We have 1 silkie, 1 EE, 1 Lavender Orpington, 1 Australorp, 1 Black Copper Marans, 1 Welsummer/cream legbar mix (Olive egger), and 1 leghorn

The one we lost was a Silkie.

 

[Witchychickens]

The advantage of raising your

Sexing chicks is something that needs to be left to professionals or they can really be hurt badly. Unless you are referring to an autosexing/sex-link breed and that just takes a little practice.

We prefer to raise our own for all the reasons @azygous mentioned. And if you have kids, it's a beautiful learning experience.

As far as adding more hens later - yes. You would have to do slow intros later, but you will have to do that with any new birds no matter the age.

I would never vent sex, I’m not qualified and wouldn’t want to hurt them doing it. I meant more by noticing other characteristics. I know nothing is really 100% until they lay or don’t.

 

[SourRoses]

I think it's most important that chicks be raised well, no matter who does it. It's most likely for a compassionate owner to be the one who provides that good care. But an experienced keeper or breeder can turn out really friendly chickens just by being humane and aware of the birds emotional as well as physical needs.
By emotional needs, I'm talking about what they don't experience more than what they do.
Not being handled roughly, not being scared frequently.
Regular noises of living present for them to get used to without becoming threats. For example:
Regular noise of dog barking
vs
Dog barking and snapping at the wire between them...
The second scenario is one that will teach chicks to startle at the sight of dogs.
Likewise, well meaning keepers can traumatize their chicks with handling. Most problematic, they often miss seeing what they've done wrong. Whereas a different new keeper may have a more observant and sensitive manner with their chicks, and get a completely different result.

One of my two most friendly hens came from a breeder who had an aloof but competent manner with her birds. Susie Q always wants to know what you're doing and follows us around.
The second friendly hen I raised myself, she "talks" to me with her low whistles when she sees me.
That's out of a LOT of chickens we have raised. I don't try to make them pets but some make themselves into pets. Most are just happy to be about their own business, and I'm happy to watch them without them acting scared of me.
We raised most of them in our hang-out outside areas, like on the back porch, but with a hands-off approach. So they got used to everything without thinking we were going to pounce on them. In that way, even our Leghorns turned out relatively calm.