Chickens need a temporary place!

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Baby chicks need to be added into the coop with the big chickens so I have put a temporary fence around the coop for the babies to get used to the area during the day. Now during the day the big chickens will not have access to their nesting boxes! The baby chicks (8weeks) cannot be free range yet as the cats will eat them. I have enclosed a pic of the set up. Baby pic attached just because they are so cute! Can I make temporary nesting boxes for them outside of this area? If so, please guide me as to how to do this. I am so stressed. I don’t want the chickens to be stressed too!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Fence off maybe part of the area near the coop, but don't lock the adults out of the coop. Is the netting on the first photo the temporary chick enclosure? Adults free ranging I assume? Just having the chicks close to the coop area should be enough for the adults to see them and start getting used to them.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Fence off maybe part of the area near the coop, but don't lock the adults out of the coop. Is the netting on the first photo the temporary chick enclosure? Adults free ranging I assume? Just having the chicks close to the coop area should be enough for the adults to see them and start getting used to them.

Yes, the netting is the temporary enclosure until they are big enough for total freedom like the big chickens. The babies have been on the Catio (cats are very upset to have lost their Catio) or in the garden, during the day for the past 3 weeks, so they are very familiar with the big chickens already. I want the babies to be able to start sleeping in the coop sometime in the next few days. They barely fit in the cage (only 2x6!) to sleep in that they have had since day one. They are destroying the garden. I wish they could have freedom like the big chickens but I’m so afraid the cats will hurt them.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since they've seen the adults thus far, I'd try moving them into the coop at night. Safest way would be to move their brooder inside, if it'll fit, and after a few days of that you can try letting them sleep in the coop without the brooder (though I'd plan on letting them out as early in the morning as possible for a day or two, just to make sure there's no issues with the hens being mad that there's intruders in the coop).

During the day I'd enclose some of the space near the coop for the chicks to use but not the entire coop (just so hens can still get in to lay), and they can use that until you feel they're big enough to try roaming with the adults.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Update - moving them into the coop at night in their little cage was a disaster. The poor babies. I would never do that again! My husband and I ended up building another small coop for them until they decide to go in with the adults on their own, if ever. It’s only a 4x4, so we could build it in a day, but they seem happy and have recovered from the night from hell. They are 10 weeks old now and we are going to start letting them free range outside of their 12x12 enclosure for a very short time each night. They go to bed about 45 minutes after the big chickens so we will use that time. Chickens are tough to raise! I adore them but wouldn’t do it again knowing what I know now