How to transition from brooder to coop?

[Carenm]

Our babies are just over 3 weeks and in about 2-3 more weeks they will be moving out but I want to prepare ahead of time. They have been spending time outside already, about a half hour at a time while I sit with them out front.

When you put them in the coop should you first keep them in their brooder, just put it in the coop? If so, for how long?

Do you need to show them how to go inside for the night? Or does it come naturally?

Do I put them on their perch to roost? Will they stay there all night?


Any helpful advice for a newbie thinking how to make the transition would be appreciated

 

[gryeyes]

I was told - and I followed the instructions - to lock them in the coop for a week or two. Just feed them there, don't let them out. Then, when you open that pop door, and they come tumbling out, they have already had their little brains programmed to want to stay in at night. They'll go back in by themselves.

Mine went out in winter, so I had the heat lamp secured there for them. Turned it off during the day and back on at night for them. But that was in the winter..... and just for a couple of weeks (to make ME feel okay about it, more than they needed the supplemental heat, I think).

I have 4 new chicks (and 2 ducklings) which I'll be putting out in about 3 - 4 weeks, myself. Except for the heat lamp thing, which I won't be using then, I'll follow the same instructions. Keep 'em locked up for about a week or so, then open that pop door. I have to keep the one smallish coop for the new kids, which is why I'm building a new coop for the Grown Ups. Gotta get it done so I can move the babies outside.

One shouldn't put the babies in with the adults until they are close to the same size, not just feathered out.

 

[LarryPQ]

I have done it a number of ways.

Sometimes putting the brooder in the coop for a few days (so the chicks cannot get out) is a good means to "get to know you".

The big issue is size-- you want the new chicks to be comparable in size to the big chickens, or at least have enough of them to be a "gang". Make sure the chicks have somewhere to hide when being picked on--somewhere the big chickens cannot go. I have used a parakeet cage with the door wired open. Chicks can hop in, and the big chickens cannot get in to peck them.

 

[snewman]

Do you have adult chickens also, that the babies will have to be incorporated with? If not, then it's super easy to transition. My first year I moved the babies into the coop at about four weeks old, but kept the door closed for a week or so, to let them get used to the coop itself. Then I opened the little door one day and let them start to explore. They were pretty timid at first and did a lot of partial exits followed by an immediate retreat. I kept the food and water inside the coop for a few weeks too, which kept them occupied. Doing it this way they definitely knew to go back to the coop and I've never had a problem with that. Once past my first year's batch, now I'm adding babies to an existing flock each year, and I wait until the babies are big enough to take care of themselves against the adults, but still it's a pretty easy transition.

 

[Carenm]

We have no other chickens