Garage to Coop

[Creteloc]

My two pullets have outgrown their indoor digs and it's time to move them outdoors to their temporary coop, where they'll live for the 3-4 weeks until they can join my two other hens. The garage they are living in stays right about 60 degrees. They are 5 1/2 weeks old. Temperatures this week drop to 20 degrees with a high in the low 40s.

So how do I acclimate them from the 60 degree garage to a 20 degree coop? No, I'm not suggesting a heater, but that seems a very steep drop in temperature for them to suddenly adapt to.

Yep, this would have been better in the spring! Hindsight...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I raise them in the winter all the time. My brooder is in the coop and is big enough so I can heat one end but let the other get really cool. Sometimes I find ice in that far end. Mine acclimate themselves. I've had chicks raised that way go through nights in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with no supplemental heat when they were the age of yours, 5-1/2 weeks.

Move them to that 60 degree garage immediately and do not supply any heat. In a week or so they should be able to handle the 20 degree coop without any problems. Open a window if you wish to let it get cooler. If you wish you can take them outside in the meantime to expose them to lower temperatures, that will help them acclimate. Observe them when you do that, you may be surprised at how well they can handle those temperatures already. That should give your confidence a big boost.

 

[Creteloc]

They've been in the 60 degree garage for 2 weeks, and 2 days ago I turned off all sources of heat. Unfortunately, there's not a window to open. Thanks for the ideas! I'll take them out when I get home in the afternoons and then put them back in the garage at nights. Maybe this weekend I'll feel more comfortable putting them out in the freezing cold.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would also suggest that when you move them out, you integrate them into your coop with the other 2 birds. Change is stressful for chickens, so, you would eliminate one change by going straight to the coop with them. @azygous has some good information about integration. Many of us have found that early integration is much easier than waiting till the chicks hit puberty.

 

[azygous]

Kudos to you for recognizing the need for acclimatizing your chicks. If you haven't already, simply removing their heat source will be a good start. Then start doing day trips outside, brief at first, increasing gradually each day. Chicks are usually able to withstand daytime temps in the 30s with no heat at the age of yours after being acclimated. By age seven to eight weeks, there should be no problem with below freezing temps at night without heat after they've been acclimatized.

I would suggest not waiting to begin integration. The chicks will observe the adults and learn their temperaments, and you can begin letting them all mingle after a week of the initial introduction.

I use the panic room method where the chicks get a safe pen with chick size openings to retreat to when they feel the need. Food and water are inside this enclosure, and the chicks use it until around ten weeks of age.

See my article on outdoor brooding for details.

 

[Creteloc]

It's an odd situation. They are almost the same size. The original 2 chickens are 9 weeks old and these two are 5 1/2 weeks old. I looove your article and chicken setup! Without the advantage of a chick safe-room, do you have suggestions in integration without using the 3-4 week method? Maybe a brief introduction in a neutral play pen environment just to see how well they mesh and then going from there? They are all rather young.

 

[azygous]

What I find very helpful with two groups close together in size is to have vertical escapes such as an old card table. Younger chickens are almost always intimidated by the older ones, so having a get-away is helpful. Food and water on this surface provides an alternate feeding station so everyone gets a shot at it.

 

[Creteloc]

I introduced them last night and it went fairly well. It was neutral territory. No blood was drawn and the younger pullets were beaten into submission. Wow, that's hard to watch. Growing up with 50+ chickens, we didn't introduce anything. Chickens were born in the coop and raised in the coop.

Anyway, we let them run around together supervised for a while and then we put the younger ones in the old coop in view of the big coop. They then huddled in the corner of the run, completely avoiding the warm coop, until we moved them, shivering, into the garage again.

 

[aart]

A 'huddle box' can work well.

Make them a 'huddle box', put it in the brooder after turning off the heat(you might have to 'persuade' them to use it) then move it out to the coop with them.

Cardboard box with a bottom a little bigger than what they need to cuddle next to each other without piling and tall enough for them to stand in.

Cut an opening on one side a couple inches from bottom and big enough for 2-3 of them to go thru at once.

Fill the bottom with some pine shavings an inch or so deep.

This will give them a cozy place to sleep/rest, block any drafts and help hold their body heat in.

 

[Rubysword]

Subbed
It is very hard to watch the chicks integrate with the chickens. Ours took over a month to fully integrate,and then only because we increased their ranging room.