Brooder to Coop: suggestions modifying/ integrating

[KBNAZ]

I am looking for suggestions for my setup. We are raising our second batch of 4 chicks and have 3 adult hens. We have used this plastic bin with heat lamp for a few weeks, then upgraded to our wood deck box (in the house), before moving our last batch to their coop. The adults have their coop open to a small yard during the day and sometimes get free run of the whole yard in the late afternoon.

I am toying with the idea of making a brooder for our open front porch or (even better) building something inside the coop or run. There is no electricity to the coop, but we have run a long extension cord from the nearby garage before. I ordered a heating pad to make a momma heater so we can ditch the heat lamp.

Any ideas on how you would set up a brooder near or in the coop and when you would move them out there? Temps are now 70-80 by day and upper 40s to lower 50s at night. Attaching pics. Any ideas appreciated. Bonus if the brooder could be kept and used for anyone who needs to be separated for any reason in the future. We’re not afraid to build something... we have scrap wood, metal roofing, hardware cloth, a puppy play pen fence, and the deck box could probably be sacrificed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How old are the chicks right now?

I brood out in my run using a heating pad (no electricity so I run an extension cord), and the brooder does triple duty as a brooder, rain shelter, and isolation cage. So maybe you can get some ideas from my set up: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

There is some risk in brooding out in a run especially if it's fairly open to possible predators (i.e. BoP) but your coop isn't big enough to set it up a brooder inside.

 

[KBNAZ]

How old are the chicks right now?

I brood out in my run using a heating pad (no electricity so I run an extension cord), and the brooder does triple duty as a brooder, rain shelter, and isolation cage. So maybe you can get some ideas from my set up: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

There is some risk in brooding out in a run especially if it's fairly open to possible predators (i.e. BoP) but your coop isn't big enough to set it up a brooder inside.

We just bought them today, so just a few days old. I think we can keep them inside for at least the first few weeks. Thanks for the feedback. I was wondering if our coop was too small. Perhaps I can build a mini coop and run in the chicken yard that is secure from BoP, etc. We did lose one chicken to a hawk.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Perhaps I can build a mini coop and run in the chicken yard that is secure from BoP, etc. We did lose one chicken to a hawk.

This is one of the few times a prefab coop is useful, as they generally come with both a coop and run portion which can be used to allow for see-but-don't-touch before the babies have actual physical contact with the adults.

Your run looks to be a good size, which will help with eventual integration, but looks like your current coop has just the one roost? That could be the toughest part of this, trying to convince the adults to let the little ones to move in there and roost.

 

[KBNAZ]

This is one of the few times a prefab coop is useful, as they generally come with both a coop and run portion which can be used to allow for see-but-don't-touch before the babies have actual physical contact with the adults.

Your run looks to be a good size, which will help with eventual integration, but looks like your current coop has just the one roost? That could be the toughest part of this, trying to convince the adults to let the little ones to move in there and roost.

Good point. We can certainly move things around and add a second roost. All three of them stick to one far end of it anyway. Thank you again!

 

[NatJ]

possible predators (i.e. BoP)

What is BoP? It will probably seem obvious after someone tells me, but right now it's got me stumped.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What is BoP? It will probably seem obvious after someone tells me, but right now it's got me stumped.

Birds of prey.

 

[0die]

I have a small pre-fab coop for my brooder. It sits right next to the main coop. One day one the chicks are getting integrated. After a couple weeks I open the door and let them wander the big girls run while I sit and drink a beer. Once they get big enough that I'm not worried about neighborhood cats or something getting them, the door stays open all day and they naturally move into the big coop shortly.

 

[Justicedog]

I have used plastic snow fencing to create a barrier in my coop. Basically cutting it in half. So the new girls would be on one side and the old girls on the other half - the side to chicken run doors, so the old girls got to go out and the new ones hung out in the coop for awhile. We have one roost running all along the back of the coop - 8 feet. They each had half of it during the look but don’t touch phase. I don’t recall an issue with the roost. The new ones for awhile would dog pile on the floor. I don’t know if that was cuz of the old girls being jerks, I didn’t think of that as I thought 8 feet was long enough for all of them to roost. I didn’t see any fighting.

 

[nicolekathryn]

Prefab coop in your run will probably work. We created this space in our coop but it takes up less than half the space (what is pictured here is the left half of our coop). We plan to reuse the parts for future brooding.