How to modify coop/run to introduce chicks? Any ideas?

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

I have a large beautiful coop with a ramp that goes to a big dirt run covered in hardwire cloth. I have only one chicken now (my EE died in June and my BO died last night leaving a very lonely BR behind

). But I have three little chicks in the brooder. I'd like to move them out to the coop so the BR can hear/smell them and get used to them and maybe she won't feel so lonely.

I saw on BYC awhile back where someone had built a little brooder under the poop board in their coop. I can't find the pic again but I have a poop board with nothing under it so was thinking of trying to modify it so the chicks could move out from the house into the coop. I have 3 chicks - 2 are almost 3 weeks old and 1 is almost 4 weeks old. They've been off the lamp for a week and are just in a big plastic storage box in the house, so I'm sure they could live in the coop now. (I live in FL and it's 90s in day and about 80 at night)

But how can I give them time in the run without my BR - named Maggie - getting to them? Our run has a small covered area and the rest is hardwire cloth. Here in FL we get A LOT of rain in the summer - big thunderstorms and sideways rain. I'm not sure how to modify the run so the chicks can be in there too. Any ideas on this one?

I've read to put the chicks in a dog crate in the run, but with a dirt floor and a ton of rain it gets super muddy super fast in the rain. I just spent a small (ahem....large) fortune on a brand new custom-built coop coop and am a little low on funds to build something to help with the adjustment. There has to be someone out there who's come up with the perfect solution that allows the chicks to be near a hen in a coop/run without her being able to get to them. I also have no clue how a single chicken will react to chicks since she has no pecking order in her world - she's the queen of her lonely little castle now

I assume she'll attack the chicks so I have to find a way to keep them apart for awhile.

I didn't think my BO would succumb to EYP so soon so this integration wasn't going to be on my radar for another month or two, but since she died last night leaving me with one very lonely chicken, I'd like to find a way to get things moving ASAP.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Jakoda]

Could you use the dog crate and move them outside during the day and move the crate inside at nite??

Or if your into building, build a small 'tractor' type enclosure that would fit outside during the day/in at nite?

Of course either will be a pain to move in and out, but it wouldn't be permanent and might be easier than building something just under your poop board.

I'm going off the assumption you have the "room" to move such a thing in and out I have big double doors from my coop to the run, so am imagining what I could do.

Good luck! Sorry you lost one and hope your remaining one isn't lonely for to long,,who knows she may take to the babies right away!!

Diane

 

[Alte Vogel]

In February I bought 2 EE'ers that were a week old. I already had 4 pullets that were 8 months old. Our weather is mild here so when the EE'ers were 6 weeks old (and fully feathered ) I moved the babies outside. My run is a 10' x 10' sand run which is pretty predator proof . I partitioned about 1/2 of the run off by hanging that cheap plastic fencing from the roof of the run down the middle. This fencing (I guess that's what it was) comes in a roll I think was 36" by 15' - I think. Then directly under it I put one of the children's play yard fences I had left over from my grandchildren. Stretching it out it was approx. 12' long. I had a large dog igloo that my dog no longer used. I put that on the side for the new EE'ers up on 3 concrete blocks. Put pine shavings in it and attached a roost inside. I made a small ramp for them. The babies took to it right away. The big girls paced the partition for a few days but soon they just looked at each other thru the fencing.

When I finally took the fencing down between the two sides there still was the pecking order but the babies soon learned to stay out of the way. Even now 2 1/2 months later they will still back away from the feeder when the older girls shimmy up to get their meal. No big fights or injuries though.
It turned out to be a cheap and easy way to introduce each to the other. Just an idea.