Hands on hatching and help

[audy5000g]

Hmmm she has zipped down. Is that ok? I thought they need to zip up?

 

[audy5000g]

Here she is...

 

[FridayYet]

I use the system that @azygous showed in this thread: It's just a couple of chick sized doors that stay shut when they are very little, then opened to allow them to mingle. The big birds can't fit through the door.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224 Photos and her explanation are about halfway down.

I brood my chicks outdoors in pen within the run, in full sight of the adults and older chicks at all times. Until I gleefully stole azygous' portal system this season, all I did to start integration was to prop open the main door the brooder so it was wide enough for the babies to run back into, but narrow enough so the older birds couldn't follow them. I also have a huge - and I mean HUGE - hollow log in the the run with the hollow side down, and if the chicks can't get back to the brooder for some reason they learn very quickly to duck under there where the adults can't reach them. Now with the combination of the portal doors and the log, I have very few concerns. I do supervise them well at first so I can nip any aggression in the bud and/or move chicks out of harm's way, but so far out of 4 different batches of chicks raised this way I've never had to do a thing except sit in my lawn chair and enjoy the show.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

It's a great system, and I do almost the same thing, but not as fancy. I have a door from the coop to the brooder box made out of chicken wire in a frame. After a few weeks, I pull up one corner, clip it open, and the littles can go in and out but the bigger ones can't follow. There's also a safe house in the run where the littles can eat, drink and nap without being bothered, with two small entry/exit spots. They integrate pretty fast that way. For fun, I've got branches the littles can run through but the big girls can't fit through. It all works nicely.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

That tray has a lot in it but I have had the 4 trays with more chicks than the one in the pic----no one gets smothered.

That's really good.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Big day for the little Silkies tomorrow.  Supervised visitation with the flock!  Their heating pad has been turned down to 2 for a couple of days and they don't even seem to notice.  So tomorrow I'll let all the Bigs and the Littles outside, close the run, and open the portal doors on the brooder pen.  After they've had a little time to explore and learn where the portal doors so they can escape any unwanted attentions of others, the run door will be opened and the Tiny's will be able to get as adventurous as they want.

If this follows the usual pattern, the older chicks will head immediately to the brooder, but they've gotten so big they won't fit through portals.  Frankly I'm a little more concerned about them than I am about the adults - the adults been through this process many times before so they usually just look, peck if a chick gets too close, then ignore them.  But the older chicks (Yokel and Wilbur, my first ever home hatched chicks, and the other 6 we bought to keep them company are about 8 weeks old and Sluff, the NN hiding in an Australorp shell, is around 5 weeks. The Silkies and the other 8 from MPC, are 3 weeks. Boy, time flies!!  I want to have full integration in another 4 or 5 days to simplify chicken care when Ken, Katie and I leave town for 10 days next week.  Should be no problem...never have had an integration issue doing it this way.  Wish us luck!

Good luck but I'm sure you dont need it. You sound like a pro at this lol.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I have noticed that quite a few, including one of my own centered pipped chicks end up being Malposition #5 chicks... so don't be surprised if you end up finding toes above the beak at the pip hole tomorrow...lol  It'll probley be perfectly positioned, just don't be surprised. 

Good luck!!! I have sucky experiences with integrating...lol I have some witchy hens when it comes to newbies.

Me too. My first hens were so aggressive I found them new homes and started over again with more easygoing breeds. Since the change its been so much easier...

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I use the system that @azygous
 showed in this thread:  It's just a couple of chick sized doors that stay shut when they are very little, then opened to allow them to mingle.  The big birds can't fit through the door.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1069595/introducing-chicks-to-adults#post_16276224  Photos and her explanation are about halfway down.

I brood my chicks outdoors in pen within the run, in full sight of the adults and older chicks at all times.  Until I gleefully stole azygous' portal system this season, all I did to start integration was to prop open the main door the brooder so it was wide enough for the babies to run back into, but narrow enough so the older birds couldn't follow them.  I also have a huge - and I mean HUGE - hollow log in the the run with the hollow side down, and if the chicks can't get back to the brooder for some reason they learn very quickly to duck under there where the adults can't reach them. Now with the combination of the portal doors and the log, I have very few concerns.  I do supervise them well at first so I can nip any aggression in the bud and/or move chicks out of harm's way, but so far out of 4 different batches of chicks raised this way I've never had to do a thing except sit in my lawn chair and enjoy the show.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

Such a great idea. I don't know why I never thought of this.. I'm going to try it with this next batch..

 

[ShanandGem]

Me too. My first hens were so aggressive I found them new homes and started over again with more easygoing breeds. Since the change its been so much easier...

I find integrating really stressful (for me). I have several tractors and smaller coop/runs so I have taken to raising a dozen or so chicks together and then splitting them into breeding groups. Right now I have Blue/Black/Splash Orpingtons, a couple Easter Eggers and Black Copper Marans growing out in the same tractor. They'll get split up by breed once I get home from vacation and my husband processes our meat birds.

 

[jenniferlamar70]

I find integrating really stressful (for me). I have several tractors and smaller coop/runs so I have taken to raising a dozen or so chicks together and then splitting them into breeding groups.  Right now I have  Blue/Black/Splash Orpingtons, a couple Easter Eggers and Black Copper Marans growing out in the same tractor.  They'll get split up by breed once I get home from vacation and my husband processes our meat birds.

Are splash orpingtons similar to the jubilee? I just ordered some of their hatching eggs and I've been dying to learn more about the breed. I'm also interested in the mottled..

 

[ShanandGem]

Are splash orpingtons similar to the jubilee? I just ordered some of their hatching eggs and I've been dying to learn more about the breed. I'm also interested in the mottled..

It's my understanding (and goodness knows I've been wrong a LOT) that Blue/Black/Splash is all the same color gene, so you can get all three in a single hatch. Splash is a blue bird with splashes of dark color.
Jubilee and spangled/mottled have splashes of white and are a different color gene entirely.