Another vacation question

[tusseymtchicks]

I am trying to figure out how to arrange my chicks & chickens so that the chicks are safe when I'm out of town. Here's the backstory: we have 26 three 1/2 week old heavy chicks (Buff Orpingtons, Australorps, Araucana (sp?), Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds) as well as about 16 adult hens of multiple breeds (one a Seabright mom with 6 chicks). And I have a logistical housing problem. We are leaving for a 3 week vacation, and don't have a chicken run--our adults are free ranging, coming into their 8x12 chicken house to roost. The chicks at the moment are in a 3x8 wired part of a garden shed. Does it seem workable to people to flip the chicks and chickens in 4 days? I.e., move the chicks tonight into the big house with the grown ups, and move the grownups into the chick annex? Keep both in for a day or two, and then let the grownups out hoping they'll come back to roost in the little house, and keep the chicks in the big house for the next 3 weeks? I can't see letting the chicks out to free range now, since they're not fully fledged, and I also can't see keeping ALL of the chickens shut into the big house together for 3 weeks. Fencing a little daytime run for the chicks now isn't an option, as ideal as it would be. If anyone else has any brilliant ideas, boy would I love to hear. I would post pictures of both spaces if I knew how, but I'm a new poster on this list and therefore don't yet know how to do it. Thanks in advance,
TusseyMtChicks

 

[Big dreams]

I would think it would be worth a try but I don't know. Maybe someone with a little more experience could jump in here??