Big Girls and Teens…

[Svyetii]

Follow-up question: once the chicks are integrated, how do you keep them from eating the hen’s feed and sticking with their own until they’re at point of lay?

 

[rosemarythyme]

My plan is to have them roost there, as long as the weather is nice, with the hope that they will eventually explore the coop if locked in the run and start roosting up there on their own. Does that seem reasonable?

That should be fine. I find my chicks exploring the inside of the coop quite quickly. The way I transition them into the actual coop when the time comes is a two part process: 1) I lock them out of the brooding area (in this case, it'd be the fenced off chick area you have) and 2) I put a small cage or enclosure in the coop and manually put them in at sunset. The last 2 batches of chicks I've had moved themselves into the coop after about 1 week, and 2 days, respectively.

Coop transition cage (chicks were 27 days old):

Chicks voluntarily roosting at 29 days old:

Follow-up question: once the chicks are integrated, how do you keep them from eating the hen’s feed and sticking with their own until they’re at point of lay?

Put all the birds on whatever the chicks are eating. For me that means grower and all flock crumble. Provide calcium on the side for the layers.

 

[3KillerBs]

The chicks might follow the big girls in when they're ready or you might have to put them in when the time comes.

Follow-up question: once the chicks are integrated, how do you keep them from eating the hen’s feed and sticking with their own until they’re at point of lay?

It's essentially impossible.

This is why I feed my entire flock on all-flock feed since I have males and mixed ages.