Baby chicks inside coop with older chickens

[jeningilroy]

Okay I wasn't sure... And the red lamp inside coop won't bother the pullets?

 

[jeningilroy]

You guys are funny

 

[Blooie]

<gulp> Um, I AM a politician......locally, of course, but still and all a politician having held 2 government offices. But if you can put a barrier between the Tinys and the Littles and allow them to get accustomed to each other for a few days, you should be able to integrate them fairly easily. I would recommend that you put in a temporary additional feeding station so you can make sure that all of them get enough to eat. Usually most squabbles happen around the food and water. Yours are close enough in age where that might not matter but if you give the max opportunity to integrate smoothly they will all be much happier. And if you can let them out to free range, that's even better. Let the bigger ones go out, then when they start scratching and foraging allow the littler ones to join them.

I raise all my chicks outside in the coop from day one using Mama Heating Pad. You are smart to wonder about the heat lamp bothering the older chicks. It might disrupt them if they are used to roosting at night in the dark. But it's only for a short time. Be careful, careful, careful about using a heat lamp out there! In a bigger space they'll tend to want to exercise those wings and they could well bump into it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

 

[jeningilroy]

The pullets are about 10-12 weeks old. They have their feathers and look like little miniature chickens. Some still have their diapers. Really cute! My coop is 4x6 which seems like a lot of room and they have a 6x11 foot run off of that. I can have six hens in the city here so I'm wanting to add two more babies. My sister who has thirty chickens said to just put a panel up inside coop and a lamp and have them brood in there. I've never read or heard of that, so I'm wanting to know what others thought.

 

[Blooie]

The pullets are about 10-12 weeks old. They have their feathers and look like little miniature chickens. Some still have their diapers. Really cute! My coop is 4x6 which seems like a lot of room and they have a 6x11 foot run off of that. I can have six hens in the city here so I'm wanting to add two more babies. My sister who has thirty chickens said to just put a panel up inside coop and a lamp and have them brood in there. I've never read or heard of that, so I'm wanting to know what others thought.

I brood chicks outdoors. They are in a pen within the run, not the coop. My coop just wouldn't allow for the pen I wanted plus leave enough room for the Bigs. So the Littles and the Tinys were out in temperatures in the teens and twenties using nothing more than a metal frame, a heating pad, a towel and some straw. I provided a link to brooding chicks outdoors in my earlier post above, and it can also be found in my signature below. Integration with the older birds was almost flawless!

@azygous is another member who broods chicks outdoors, and so are many others - I was first made aware of this by others who have gone before, Patrice Lopatin's video as well as my friend @Beekissed

@Ridgerunner also broods outdoors - taking the chicks right from the incubator (after they've dried off, of course) even during the winter. The setup Ridgerunner uses has a heat lamp at one far end with plenty of open space for them to get cooled off and they can run back under the lamp when they need to warm up.

 

[lillihen77]

Trust a politician!  hahahahahahahahahaha

A pulletician....that should be the name for hatchery sexers!!

 

[jeningilroy]

That's awesome!

Thank you for all the great advise

 

[azygous]

Absolutely get those two-week olds moved into the coop! It's where they belong, and where they'll be best off.

Currently, I have five-month olds as well as ten-week olds, in a flock of twenty, the remainder being adults. It's the juveniles that are causing bullying problems for the ten-week olds. The youngsters have a safe pen, though, where they are able to eat in peace as well as relax without being jumped by a five-month old bully. They have 5x7" portals into this pen that the larger chickens don't fit. It's getting close for the chicks, too, and they will be out of luck in two more weeks.

But it's having a safe area for the chicks that really makes integration so much easier, and you will be able to do it much earlier, too. I recommend it, and then you won't have to worry about the smaller ones being in any danger from the older ones.

As far as heat goes for the two-week olds, since there are so few, why not forego the heat lamp, which is overkill, and slip a heating pad under the wood shavings where the chicks will sleep? If your day time temps are in the 70s, they probably can do without a heat source in the day time.

When the next batch of new chicks arrives, I'm sure you would be interested in brooding them in the coop under the Mama Heating Pad system. See Blooie's thread by that name. The sooner you get them the better because chicks under four weeks will usually bond as a unit, and they can all share the same heating pad heat source.

 

[JWChicks]

I have babies that are two weeks old, I have them seperated with their momma in the coop, my question is what about their daddy?? When it's time to blend the babies with the adult hens (12 wks?) is it alright to keep the rooster with everyone?? I don't want him hurting the new chicks!!

 

[Pork Pie]

I have babies that are two weeks old, I have them seperated with their momma in the coop, my question is what about their daddy?? When it's time to blend the babies with the adult hens (12 wks?) is it alright to keep the rooster with everyone?? I don't want him hurting the new chicks!!

The rooster is highly unlikely to harm the chicks in any way and is more likely to be a co-parent. I let my chicks wonder around the garden, with the rest of my flock from 2 days old (supervised and for an hour or so) - the earlier you introduce them to the flock, the better. By the time the mum decides she's not interested in the chicks (6-7 weeks in my experience), the chicks should already be integrated as they will need to stand on their own two feet.

CT