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- #11
Traceaskew
In the Brooder
Here's a couple pics 
Shipping chicks in winter
- Thread starter Traceaskew
- Start date
Separation. Yep, that's it! If you can put a pen in there with the babies so that the older chicks can see them all the time, the integration will go much smoother! I'll have to find @azygous 's post about the portals she uses when it's time to integrate them. Her outdoor pen has little doors in it that she can open and close. When the doors are open, the chicks can get out among the older birds but they can scoot back in for safety. The bigger birds can't follow if they are being a little too aggressive or pushy. I am absolutely going to cut doors in the Little's pen this year and use that portal system. I thought it was brilliant. So keep the littlest ones in the pen until they don't need the heating pad anymore and the older birds are used to them hanging around. Seems to work the best. Oh, and multiple feeding and watering stations - more aggression toward the chicks seems to occur when the older birds feel like they're being invaded and their food stolen!
I think it's @aart who uses a "huddle box" - a box with openings in it that the chicks can duck into for protection from the older birds, too. She likes that system a lot.
I think it's @aart who uses a "huddle box" - a box with openings in it that the chicks can duck into for protection from the older birds, too. She likes that system a lot.
Please allow me:
If chicks have what I like to call a "panic room", where only they can fit the entrances (and there should be more than one), it not only provides optimal safety, but it helps develop self confidence in the chicks so they're better adjusted going forward.
Food and water is inside this panic room so the chicks don't have to be stressed and fearful trying to compete for essentials. It's a place for them to relax and be themselves without having to be on guard all the time.
Almost eight years ago, when I was introducing my first three baby chicks to my two adult hens, I quickly came to the conclusion I needed some sort of safe pen for the babies if only to keep the adult hens from taking over the chicks' food. I tacked up a small enclosure in one corner of the run, and made a small opening into it that the hens couldn't fit through. By that time one hen had developed a real fondness for the chick food and I found her stuck in the opening leisurely finishing off the chick starter. So I tore the pen down and built a larger enclosure so I could get the food farther away from the openings.
Later on, I built a new run and incorporated a chick pen or panic room into it as a permanent feature. Then I created small chick portals in every partition in the run where a chick might get trapped against a wall or stuck in a corner with no escape. This provides safety for baby chicks so they can have free access to the entire run and still have a safe place that they can use until they're around three months old. Currently, I'm using the panic room for a two-year old abandoned hen I just adopted, so it's anything but wasted space.
Everyone who utilizes a panic room for their chicks have had peace of mind and no casualties. I highly recommend it.
If chicks have what I like to call a "panic room", where only they can fit the entrances (and there should be more than one), it not only provides optimal safety, but it helps develop self confidence in the chicks so they're better adjusted going forward.
Food and water is inside this panic room so the chicks don't have to be stressed and fearful trying to compete for essentials. It's a place for them to relax and be themselves without having to be on guard all the time.
Almost eight years ago, when I was introducing my first three baby chicks to my two adult hens, I quickly came to the conclusion I needed some sort of safe pen for the babies if only to keep the adult hens from taking over the chicks' food. I tacked up a small enclosure in one corner of the run, and made a small opening into it that the hens couldn't fit through. By that time one hen had developed a real fondness for the chick food and I found her stuck in the opening leisurely finishing off the chick starter. So I tore the pen down and built a larger enclosure so I could get the food farther away from the openings.
Later on, I built a new run and incorporated a chick pen or panic room into it as a permanent feature. Then I created small chick portals in every partition in the run where a chick might get trapped against a wall or stuck in a corner with no escape. This provides safety for baby chicks so they can have free access to the entire run and still have a safe place that they can use until they're around three months old. Currently, I'm using the panic room for a two-year old abandoned hen I just adopted, so it's anything but wasted space.
Everyone who utilizes a panic room for their chicks have had peace of mind and no casualties. I highly recommend it.
- Thread starter
- #14
Traceaskew
In the Brooder
Great Idea! I'm thinking maybe I'll put a crate inside the coop. The older chicks aren't going out of the coop yet in this weather, so they're just in there with the doors closed. I'm hoping the fact that the olders are silkies and will be much smaller, and out numbered 12 to 3, that will all work in my favor.
Doggone it, @azygous....I just spent 45 minutes re-reading the Mama Heating Pad thread and looking for your post about the portals!! I just found it and came back here to post it, since my stoopid copy/paste doesn't want to work tonight. It's on page 99, just in case anyone needs the information! I totally forgot you did an article about it!Please allow me:
If chicks have what I like to call a "panic room", where only they can fit the entrances (and there should be more than one), it not only provides optimal safety, but it helps develop self confidence in the chicks so they're better adjusted going forward.
Food and water is inside this panic room so the chicks don't have to be stressed and fearful trying to compete for essentials. It's a place for them to relax and be themselves without having to be on guard all the time.
Almost eight years ago, when I was introducing my first three baby chicks to my two adult hens, I quickly came to the conclusion I needed some sort of safe pen for the babies if only to keep the adult hens from taking over the chicks' food. I tacked up a small enclosure in one corner of the run, and made a small opening into it that the hens couldn't fit through. By that time one hen had developed a real fondness for the chick food and I found her stuck in the opening leisurely finishing off the chick starter. So I tore the pen down and built a larger enclosure so I could get the food farther away from the openings.
Later on, I built a new run and incorporated a chick pen or panic room into it as a permanent feature. Then I created small chick portals in every partition in the run where a chick might get trapped against a wall or stuck in a corner with no escape. This provides safety for baby chicks so they can have free access to the entire run and still have a safe place that they can use until they're around three months old. Currently, I'm using the panic room for a two-year old abandoned hen I just adopted, so it's anything but wasted space.
Everyone who utilizes a panic room for their chicks have had peace of mind and no casualties. I highly recommend it.
Blooie, I'm so sorry I jumped the gun and made you waste all that time!
What we need is for the site management to make a sticky of the portals and relieve us all of the need to hunt and copy and paste. Or is that conceited of me?
What we need is for the site management to make a sticky of the portals and relieve us all of the need to hunt and copy and paste. Or is that conceited of me?
Not at all....I've often wondered about that with the MHP thread too. I never in a million years expected it to take off like it did. I'm constantly going back through pages of posts looking for one particular question or answer. I've got hatching eggs coming in March and I can't wait to install your portal system into my brooder pen!!
And don't you dare be sorry for jumping the gun! Don't look at it as a waste of time - look at it as a memory refresher as new chicks are coming into new homes for the first time!
- Thread starter
- #18
Traceaskew
In the Brooder
I agree the portals post and the MHP post should both be sticky! They're vital info in my opinion!
You put the info in an article and link it in your signature.
I keep a word doc with pertinent info/links to copy and paste....including a link to a post showing your portals.
All threads are searchable.......and I've found using the 'view all images' function to be helpful in finding stuff in the long chatty threads.
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