Coop readiness for mixed age new flock

[SGP]

I am totally new to raising chickens, and am several weeks into raising my first flock. I added chicks over a 3 week period and now have a total of 12 chicks ranging from just over 3 weeks old to around 8 days old. My oldest chicks are getting pretty well feathered and are much larger than my younger ones but everyone seems to be getting along so far. However, the big ones are pretty active and seem like they would love more space. Should I move them into the coop as soon as they are fully feathered and then add the little ones later? Or should I keep them in the brooder until the littles have caught up and move everyone into the coop together? I’m afraid I’ll mess up their social order if I move them into the coop in waves, but I also think the older ones will be happy to move out of the brooder ASAP.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

How big is your brooder in feet or meters? That may force you to do something sooner rather than later.

What does your coop look like, especially asking about good ventilation and breeze protection down low. Size in feet or meters too.

Where are you? If you modify your profile to show general location that can help a lot on this type of questions. I'm mainly interested in what your weather will be like outside over the next month or so

Do you have electricity to your coop? If so you could move them out there today if you can set up a heat source. If you can this may be the ideal solution.

 

[SGP]

The brooder is a large metal stock tank (5.5’ x 2’) with a heat lamp on one end. We ordered a well built coop that will be 6’ x 6’ with electricity and ventilation (windows and vents that can be opened). It will hopefully arrive by next weekend. I’m guessing it will have pretty decent draft protection. We will have to run an extension cord to supply electricity. I live in eastern WA so it gets into the 40s-50s at night even in summer.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sound like a good set-up for the brooder. Not sure when they will outgrow it though those bigger ones will grow a lot. You might get another month out of it. By then they can all go outside without a heat source. I've had five week old chicks go through nights in the mid 20's in a coop with good ventilation up high and good breeze protection down low where they are.

Be careful running electricity out there with an extension cord but you can use the same concept in the coop next week. Heat one area and let the rest cool off. I brood in my coop even with the temps below freezing. One corner of the brooder is toasty but there might be ice in the far end. They are great at self-regulating their heat if they have a choice.