Combining flocks, moving younger chicks to the coop

[Den in Penn]

Yes, trying two at a time will help. I'm sure you will watch them, if you can, when you do it. But it will still be a rough road. Just remember no blood no foul.

 

[rookiefarmers]

Two will be better. Just make sure there are plenty of hiding places and multiple food and water. I would think that after being left all day and surviving it might not be as far off as you think. The spot my littles liked and still like is two cinder blocks with a sheet of plywood over it. Its just short enough that the big girls can't peck has if they follow the little ones under it, which they rarely do. Things that provide a line of sight break are good too. I hauled in a huge stump, made a mound of boulders and rigged up a roost with a thin log and a pair of saw horses.

 

[lauranickerson]

Okay. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give them a few hiding places tonight or tomorrow.

 

[aldarita]

I have 20 five week old chicks, since I got them at one day old, I had to separate them in two groups because I did not have a big enough brooder for all of them. Now that they are 5 weeks old I have to integrate them. I tried to turn them loose for a while in the room I had them and the cockerels starting to fight, so somehow I separated them and put each group in their pen. Last Saturday I moved them to their coop but had to keep them in their pens because I wanted them to get used to their new surroundings. They have been there for three days, so I opened the door of one of the pens and let them loose in the coop while the others stayed penned. Today I let the other group out and put the first group in the pen. This is my way of letting them get familiarized with the coop. I plan to turn both groups loose on Thursday and also open the hen door so they can go to the run and have more space to settle the pecking order.
Thanks rookiefarmers for your advise, I will have to toughen up and watch them fight for a while, just be there in case things get out of hand.
So once I get thru with this ordeal, I will have to let them get bigger and integrate them with my older girls (they are 14 months old).
My very well learned lesson is that I won't be getting so many chicks at once, just enough that can be put together in one brooder.
Please let me know if there is anything that you all think I should do to integrate these chicks to ease the pain and suffering

 

[rookiefarmers]

Have they had "look but no touch" time? Where they share a chicken wire divider? That is HUGE.

 

[aldarita]

Yes, they have had three days of "look but not touch"
I decided today to let them loose, I took the pens out and opened the hen door so they could go out in the run. I was expecting a lot of fights since I seem to have several cockerels. I was happily surprised that things were quite well with very few fights. I believe that putting them in "look but not touch" for three days and also letting them loose in the big run helped immensely because they were running and flying all over the place, not because of the fighting but just because they had all that space. I tried to post some pics of my chicks in their run but unfortunately I could not do it. I wonder if anybody else is having problems uploading pictures into the forum, I have uploaded several times before and this is the first time I have had difficulties. I will try later and see if it goes thru.
I also want to add that thanks to this forum I was able to get the advise of the experts and follow it, IT WORKED!!!!

Now all I have to do is go to the coop/run before it gets dark and chase those 20 little lovely buggers to put them in their coop to sleep. Maybe I can entice them to get in the coop with a treat. Wish me luck!

 

[lauranickerson]

Well, still no bloody birds, and not many missing feathers (on my two newly integrated birds, anyways). The production red spends almost all of her time in the coop, and she's feisty. I wonder if she can't let her guard down around me. She pecks my feet like a little brat. My (favorite chicken EVER) Leghorn managed to hop the 8ft+ fence today. I panicked a little when I went out there after going to an appointment and she wasn't in the coop OR the run. Ended up finding her digging around on the other side of the run where the pines start, which is overrun with waist-high weeds and really tall raspberry bushes.

Good thing she's so awesome, and just chirped and ran to see me when she spotted me. Then she wanted attention so bad that she followed me to the garden and kept begging for pets from my friend and her boyfriend that were helping out in the garden, too. My friend doesn't like chickens much. Haha. She thinks they're creepy. But I don't know how such a cute little bird could be creepy.

Anyways, I digress. I think I'm in the home stretch now (until I integrate my 7ish week olds in

).

 

[aldarita]

I was able to upload the pics from my little experiment on integrating my two sets of chicks. You can see the little "hen door" on the left so they ran all over the place when I opened it. There was plenty of room for them to hide and run from the others, but fortunately it was a good integration. That happened last Tuesday and today, there are few fights every now and then but not too bad.
They are grouping together at night (in a chick bundle) I guess they are too young to roost.

 

[lauranickerson]

I was able to upload the pics from my little experiment on integrating my two sets of chicks. You can see the little "hen door" on the left so they ran all over the place when I opened it. There was plenty of room for them to hide and run from the others, but fortunately it was a good integration. That happened last Tuesday and today, there are few fights every now and then but not too bad.
They are grouping together at night (in a chick bundle) I guess they are too young to roost.

Wow! That's like a chicken mansion!! Holy cow!

 

[OlivesMama]

Oh my word, Aldarita- I am drooling over your coop!