Nice setup! I let my chicks see the big 'uns as early as 1 week, they were fully in the coop by 4. With my others I waited till they were 5 weeks before letting them in, but the result was pretty much the same. I'm very glad I introduced them early, it went much better than if they were older. Also, you have a beautiful flock!
You have given me the confidence to let my babies go outside and mingle with my older birds way sooner than I would have thought if I just listened to all the other "regular" advice. Two successful EASY seamless integrations so far!!
Thanks for the information. My little ladies seem really big for 4 weeks, so I'm sure they will be fine. What I have on hand to install the brooder inside the big coop will provide something similar to this.
This is an excellent system and an even better write-up. All of the details are there, from exact door sizes to schedules to easy chick-round-up. Pictures are great and very helpful ... and the one with the baby peeking out through the open door is just priceless!
Thanks for a great article!
I am super scared to do new things and there may be 1000 better ways to do things but I've always done what works! A lot of time my control freak side makes life harder and just gives me more to stress about and more chores to do!! I have a few one-week old chicks now so I will DEFINITELY be trying this in a few weeks!!
There are so many aspects of successful "flock management"... LOTS can go wrong, when you don't know what you're doing. I don't and was raised on a farm but was, distracted and... uninterested at the time
Timely for, gotta get these lil guys integrated before I go nuts... staging them in my office/garage is getting to be a smelly situation.. I get gassy but wife says I've got competition from these 5 sub 4oz beasts!
That was a nice article! I may make some changes. I never put them out into coop because I am worried about stomping. I like the tiny little home for them!
My normal routine is to place them with one hen at 3 weeks. She builds a bond with them and when they get to the big coop at 10 weeks, I send them with their “Trojan” hen and she keeps the others away.
But, I really like that cute little place and adorable pic!
I ordered some chicks this October, and I live in NC. It should be warm enough for me to do this with my chicks, correct? Btw, great article and a good way of putting integration! Good take on new ways of chicken keeping