Coop/Run introduction of 4 and 10 week olds

[kevfries88]

Hello everyone, new here. My coop is in place and run is almost complete. We have secured some 4 week and 10 week old (hopefully all pullets). Our plan is to pick all of them up the same day and put them into the coop/run at the same time. The coop is 20 sqft and the run is 160sqft. Temperatures have been 80+ during the day here and 65+ here at night. Any issues with the younger 4 week old being in with the 10 week old? We were hoping since everyone is going in at the same time it will help prevent that. The younger are barred rock and a fbcm. The older are isa, EE, black sex link, and silkie.

 

[TheBajan]

Hello everyone, new here. My coop is in place and run is almost complete. We have secured some 4 week and 10 week old (hopefully all pullets). Our plan is to pick all of them up the same day and put them into the coop/run at the same time. The coop is 20 sqft and the run is 160sqft. Temperatures have been 80+ during the day here and 65+ here at night. Any issues with the younger 4 week old being in with the 10 week old? We were hoping since everyone is going in at the same time it will help prevent that. The younger are barred rock and a fbcm. The older are isa, EE, black sex link, and silkie.

Hopefully others with more experience will chime in. For my own two cents I would not put them all together right away. I would have them in sight of each other for a week and then give the little ones a way to intergrate with the older ones on their own terms allowing them a place to escape to if needed. One question relates to where they are coming from. If they are coming from two separate farms, they should be kept separate for a few weeks to keep for bio-security. You don't want one flock to pass on something to the other flock. I once placed two roosters (perfectly healthy) with someone and within a few days of being at her farm they both died. Another example is that a couple of weeks ago I got some pullets and last week I went back to the same farm and got more pullets (now 3 weeks old). Turns out they all have coccidia. I've never had coccidia before so today I went out and bought Corid to deal with that. Fortunately, they are my entire flock until July. I have to clean this up before my eggs hatch next month. Good luck.

 

[kevfries88]

They will be coming from different farms, so the quarantine will probably be good. Should we partition of the coop for at night? We have multiple doors on the coop so we can let some in the ramp and the others in the side. I can separate them in the run easily. My girlfriend already has a full chicken first aid kit put together, i do know she has some corrid in there incase we run into that issue.

 

[TheBajan]

They will be coming from different farms, so the quarantine will probably be good. Should we partition of the coop for at night?

I would.

 

[Mrs. K]

Are you just getting two birds? If so, I would just put them together in a strange place, and I would expect it to work fairly well.

But a lot depends on your set up, how much space in the coop, in the run. Do you have pictures?

It might be best, to take two birds from the same place, no introduction, no bio-security risk. If you are just getting started, no need to make it harder than you need to, get two birds from the same flock, same age.

To truly quarantine is more intensive that just separating them. If they are sharing the same air space - not a quarantine. It is nearly impossible to do in a small set up. However, I think you could more than likely just put them together. Might be a scuffle or two is what I would expect. Could be much worse, then do the see no touch fro several weeks.

Mrs K

 

[kevfries88]

Are you just getting two birds? If so, I would just put them together in a strange place, and I would expect it to work fairly well.

But a lot depends on your set up, how much space in the coop, in the run. Do you have pictures?

It might be best, to take two birds from the same place, no introduction, no bio-security risk. If you are just getting started, no need to make it harder than you need to, get two birds from the same flock, same age.

To truly quarantine is more intensive that just separating them. If they are sharing the same air space - not a quarantine. It is nearly impossible to do in a small set up. However, I think you could more than likely just put them together. Might be a scuffle or two is what I would expect. Could be much worse, then do the see no touch fro several weeks.

Mrs K

We are getting 12 birds, from 3 different places, ranging between 4 and 10 weeks. As in my original post, the coop is 20sqft and the run is over 160sqft. Our friend is fostering some of our chicks and the others are coming from reputable breeders.

 

[kevfries88]

Still in the process of making the run.

 

[Mrs. K]

20 square foot coop is enough coop space for about 5 birds, not 12. They may fit in there for a while, but will rapidly out grow that, and that will cause a lot of problems. Sometimes people think that if they are raised together, they will learn to get along, but chickens don't roll that way.

So because you are getting a lot of birds, and your coop area is very small, disregard all of my advice.

Mrs K

 

[kevfries88]

20 square foot coop is enough coop space for about 5 birds, not 12. They may fit in there for a while, but will rapidly out grow that, and that will cause a lot of problems. Sometimes people think that if they are raised together, they will learn to get along, but chickens don't roll that way.

So because you are getting a lot of birds, and your coop area is very small, disregard all of my advice.

Mrs K

Everything i have read is 2sqft per bird for regular birds and 1sqft for bantams.

 

[drinkoj]

Agree, that's not much space in the coop for that many birds. It's 4 sq feet per chicken, 2 sq feet for bantams.