a few chick integration questions

[cityeggs]

We currently have 3 almost 1y old pullets and 2x 2.5wk old chicks. The original goal was to have 4 hens, but one of our first batch was a cockerel. So, once I was ready for more babies, we got the two chicks to keep each other company and insurance against another cockerel (or failure to thrive, though that would've still left us with 1 - not ideal).

I intended to set up a brooder outside in the coop, but getting electricity out there just proved to be too much of a pain. I did finally get the "look, don't touch" brooder set up in the coop a few days ago, but they're still sleeping indoors for the moment. They've been off heat for over a week - I took the heating pad out once I saw they hadn't used it in days and weren't sleeping under it either (not a huge surprise - it doesn't go below 70 in our house, and there's been a heat wave, so days have been warm - I was glad to turn any extra heat off!).

1. When do you think they can sleep outside (without heat)? It's cooler this week and it's been getting down into the upper 50's at night.
2. Currently, they're in the secure run inside a wire dog crate (with hardware cloth around the bottom portion) with a cardboard box on its side on one end as shelter from sun/wind - is this enough once they are outside? (I will take pictures tomorrow of the set-up).
3. It seems like most people do about 2 weeks of the "look don't touch" before attempting integration with escape hatches to chick safe spots - would this be any different if they only visit for most of the day and aren't out there all night yet?

I have my suspicions that one of our chicks is a cockerel (someone else should pick the chicks next time - I'm pretty sure I'm 2/6 at that guessing game, even with the 9/10 already sexed odds!). Granted, one of the chicks I picked bc she was just so cute and tiny compared to a number of the others, so maybe she was the one who's outside the normal growth curve, but I'm pretty sure that's not it. They're both EE's (just like our last cockerel), so same breed, but despite having the same hatch date (at least, as far as we're told), one is quite a bit bigger, developing faster - at least a week ahead on feathering and flying - and already has comb development (though, I did know enough not to pick the 3 day old chick with comb growth already!), and, well, just acts just like our last cockerel. I'd love to be wrong, but I'm worried that that's what we're in for.

4. So, assuming that, if I am able to start integrating them 2 weeks from now - around 5w old - will there be enough time for the little pullet to be well enough established with the big girls that losing her sub-flockmate before he goes all hormonal won't just put her forever at the bottom of the pecking order, or just leave her lonely for a while until she's bigger? Or should I try to get a third chick ASAP (and, if so, how much of a pain will that be to integrate 2 to a younger chick??)? I feel silly for not picking up a third right away anyway - there were chicks not spoken for and I had the hardest time deciding on two (esp since EE colors are such a surprise) that I should've just taken 3, but I was worried that it was just the chicken math talking and I'd regret going from 3 easy-going pullets to our city limit of 6 already.

 

[Tevian]

My general rule of thumb is to wait until they have lost all their (or most of) chick fluff before I move them outside for the night. Just because it’s quite cold where I am and I also can’t run power out. But I do have them outside during the day in a pen so they are used to it. I don’t really move them into the main pen until they’re reliable at roosting and outgrown their baby pen (depends on the number and the size of them). Mostly just cause my chicken run has no roof so I want them to be big enough to not be a crow/hawk target and be able to put up a bit of a defence against the adults.

A cardboard box should be fine if it’s reasonably large. I try and use plastic drums with openings cut in them cause then they don’t fall apart when they get wet/pooped on. But you could put a tarp over one end of the cage to keep an area dry. Whatever the hen house is, I would try to mimic it at least in terms of how closed in it is. If they’re only used to a big open box to sleep in, they might not realise they have to go through a little hen house door to get to shelter. After the first night they seem to learn pretty fast though. (One of my hens was an exception and she tried to sleep in the dirt under a log for three nights until she worked it out. I had go up and put her to bed every night lol)

I think your hen chick will be fine if her buddy turns out to be a rooster. The hen and rooster pair I raised last year were both well established in the flock by the time I worked out he wasn’t just a very flashy looking girl. They were at the bottom of the pecking order, because the youngsters almost always are. Things shuffle around constantly in their order. I personally wouldn’t get a third youngster if it was super young, cause bigger boisterous chicks could hurt it. If you found one a very similar age, you could go for it for sure! That’s what I did, but I did get a rooster from it lol.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you're going to add another chick, I'd do it now, and aim for approx the same age as the others to make integrating them all as painless as possible.

1. Provided they are gradually weaned off heat and exposed to outside temps, and are in good health and feathering in well, they can stay out at those temps at between 3-4 weeks.

2. Probably. They need protection from drafts and damp weather, and the option of shade. So as long as your set up allows for that, it should be fine.

3. If by "day" that's nearly the entire time the hens are up and about, then that should be sufficient.

 

[cityeggs]

Thank you! I may check around to see if there are any chicks around the same age, but I think all the chicks from this batch have found homes, and there aren't that many other options locally for us, so it's likely these two will be it.

I won't have to worry about rain for another few months here in CA, and typically the air is pretty dry, though it's been *almost* humid recently from the tail end of the storm that Southern CA just got. I do have a tarp I can hang if needed, though.

The big girls come and go between the coop and the enclosed run, so they are usually up eating and hanging out near the empty chick enclosure for an hour or so before I can get the chicks out there in the morning - they definitely have some time without them each day.

All this makes me wish yet again that I had just gone with a prefab temporary coop and done even more research before we built ours. I thought I'd done enough research - I did know that the vast majority of ready-made coops were way too small and that this design was not big enough for the stated 8 chickens - but not enough to know I'd want to have a much bigger enclosed run and be able to partition the whole thing for chick integration! There's no way we'll rebuild any time soon, so I'll have to get creative.

Here's what I'm working with. I have some old saw horses and tree stumps to add to create more cover in the fenced area once the chicks are ready.

I did consider fitting the chick enclosure into the coop - it does just fit - but it would involve moving the roosting bar up, putting the crate under the dropping board and possibly adding a ramp to the roost bc of the height and limited space to fly down safely, and I thought they'd get less face-time with each other that way. I could move the cage back and forth each day (up into the coop at night, and back down each morning), so they could be a little more protected at night and get the idea that the coop is for sleeping and still get plenty of visibility time.

I also have a 4x10x~3'h small hoop run (not predator safe) that, depending on how quickly they outgrow the dog crate, I can put in the fenced in area if the chicks need more space but aren't ready to open the doors yet. And I could outfit that with a pop door, so they have a safe spot in the run even after the doors are open. My one thought early on was to outfit that with a small chick/broody sized coop inside and just close it up at night to keep it predator safe, but I doubt I'm going to get to building anything any time soon - maybe by the next time we get chicks!

I did put a little roosting practice ladder in the card board box (and it has a brick in it so they can't trap themselves inside by flipping it over) in hopes that they'd get comfortable in there and figure out roosting some day soon. Right now, when they're in their indoor box, they either sleep under the feather duster I have in a corner, or last night, they slept between the box side and the 2x4 piece that holds up the little roosting ladder - they haven't slept on the ladder itself yet.