How Typical

[Harmony Fowl]

It’s inevitable, isn’t it? Chicks hatch with lots of time to complete their new abode and when the time comes, it still isn’t ready.

At any rate, I have 12 3-week-old chicks who I have recently separated into groups of three, four and five, respectively. They were very cramped in their single brooder since the coop and run were supposed to be done by now, plus the dominant cockerel began picking on another badly. Separated the bully from his victim and everyone seems happier, but . . . they will still have to reunite into a single flock again. We won’t keep all the boys, but we do want to keep them all until 5-6 months for eating.

How much trouble am I in? At three weeks old, separated hopefully no longer than through the weekend, will they be okay reintegrating together with more space? The surroundings will be brand new to all of them and also new to the six 9 month old pullets they are joining. Can I drop them all back in together? Should I introduce one group at a time? Should I be rotating the non-offending parties so they stay familiar with one another? Am I being ridiculous worrying about this?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

A few days of separation shouldn't matter.

 

[Mrs. K]

Especially if you are putting everyone in a new place. None of the birds have home territory. I would put everyone in at the same time

Put a panic room or a safe zone, where the chicks can get into, and the bigger birds cannot, this allows the chicks to venture out on their own terms. If it is too rough, they can retreat. Put the chicks in the safe zone, ( a modified dog kennel, or a box up on bricks, two or 3 inches. Put your chicks inside this, before you add the bigger birds. Wait till the chicks peek out and stomp in front of them. Or let them out a little bit, and give them a chase. They will quickly understand this is a safe place.

Space and hideouts are good for chickens. Put the bigger birds in an hour or two before dark. Throw some scratch down just outside the chicken door, just inside the coop, and bit a little farther in, if you have a ramp, put some on that. Get down early to get the pop up open and I am pretty sure you will be good to go.

I would make sure that there are walls, hideouts, roosts inside and out, a couple of different feed/water stations where when a bird is eating at one, she cannot be seen from another. Make sure none of your hideouts are traps, they should all have two ways in and out.


They will figure it out.

 

[aart]

Instead of building another brooder, how big is your coop?
Can you devise a space separated by wire from the main flock?
If your coop is big enough to hold all the birds when they are full grown,
you should have the space to make a 'chick safe' area.
That would put you ahead in integrating the chicks with the flock.

There lots of ways to do this, and fashion tiny doors/openings that the chicks can get thru but the older birds cannot. This is how I do it:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Thank you all. I definitely don't need another brooder. We have tons of these big tubs I currently keep them in, that's not a problem. At 24-27 days, these chicks are already off supplemental heat indoors. I and they are ready for their move outdoors, not a quick fix inside. We just need that safe space outdoors! Today involves concrete and nails and fencing. Lather, rinse, repeat for the rest of the week until it's done.

The coop will be a little over 10' by 10'. There will definitely be space for a brooder in there. I actually really want to brood chicks out there in the future and I have another set up and coming behind this one, ready to hatch next weekend. I was thinking of a large shelf, maybe 24" deep and as long as the ten foot coop. Underneath can go my fermented feed buckets and a brooder/panic room for older chicks. On top can go nest boxes and a brooder for younger chicks. Obviously, the panic room is the priority once the structure itself is built.

I'm glad to hear the chicks are unlikely to be bothered by reintroducing them to one another so soon, especially with the added change of new surroundings. I probably sound very, very silly, but I have continued to rotate the pullets between the three brooders twice a day. I really want everyone to recognize one another once they meet again in the coop.

And this will be the last time I hatch chicks without a space to put them when they're grown. If my boyfriend says I should do more, I am going to demand a finished space before I set any eggs!

 

[aart]

I probably sound very, very silly, but I have continued to rotate the pullets between the three brooders twice a day. I really want everyone to recognize one another once they meet again in the coop.

I was actually going to suggest that. Mixing and matching works to keep them from getting too territorial.

I actually really want to brood chicks out there in the future and I have another set up and coming behind this one, ready to hatch next weekend.

OyVey! Stop.setting.eggs!

 

[chickens really]

What came first?...The Chicken or the Egg?....
The Coop......My husbands favourite saying...lol...