Eeek!

[mjdtexan]

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Hadn't heard that one afore.

Nope, it didnt sound "snarky". I understood.
I are smart.

 

[gritsar]

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Hadn't heard that one afore.

Nope, it didnt sound "snarky". I understood.
I are smart.

'Course he is. He's from Texas. He got himself one of them there edumacations.

(Sorry, couldn't help myself

)

 

[Cuban Longtails]

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Honestly, I start kicking them outside once they have enough feathers to keep warm (6 weeks or so). This next year (I'm new at this too!) I'm going to space out my orders of chicks (if I get more than one, order that is) by a couple of months. Which means the ones in the house are outside before the new ones get here.

I have an outside area for chicks under the age of 6 months old. Generally they all get along up to that point as long as you have enough room for them to roam. Any early maturing cockerels (hormonal teenagers) get put in the pen with the older birds (unless culled/slaughtered before then). As the ladies reach point of lay, they're moved too.

Oh, and by few I meant a quantity of 25 or less.

I'd split the order in half or thirds, making it two or three smaller brooders instead of one big one. My problem was that my partner would be bringing home chicks left & right (bless his heart) from the feed store and we ended up with a lot more than we really needed or could handle efficiently. But all's ending well as winter is but just around the corner! The chaos is starting to become more orderly.

 

[SandraMort]

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Gotcha. By the time this batch is going to be 6 weeks old, though, won't it be too cold? That's um... mid november in upstate NY.

This next year (I'm new at this too!) I'm going to space out my orders of chicks (if I get more than one, order that is) by a couple of months. Which means the ones in the house are outside before the new ones get here.

Humor the noob here. When you say 'outside', do you mean the run or freely ranging? And once they're 'outside' they mingle with different age groups/sizes safely?

I have an outside area for chicks under the age of 6 months old. Generally they all get along up to that point as long as you have enough room for them to roam.

Asked questions too soon, oops, and too lazy to delete. OK, so the under 6 month crowd is penned and everybody ELSE freely roams all day? How do you keep track of who goes where and keep them apart?

Oh, and by few I meant a quantity of 25 or less.

I'd split the order in half or thirds, making it two or three smaller brooders instead of one big one.

Ohhhh, I was picturing half a dozen or less every couple of weeks, each in its own brooder, each kept apart outside, etc. Confusion reigns supreme in my mind!​

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Actually, 'cause i have a big yard (5 acres), the babies are in the back yard and the older birds are penned up in the side yard. For the most part, the young ones have a good 100 x 50 ft spot to roam and play with a main coop set up for them to shelter in.

Upstate NY? Hmm... might just be a bit nippy for them especially if it's snowing up there by then. Being in OK, the winters are pretty mild. I'm not sure how your coop is set up, but if it was possible to partion a section of it just for the smaller guys - that could work. The bigger birds would eventually get used to their proximity and you could integrate them that way.