I'm an idiot

[Nigellas]

I have 4 adult hens and wanted to add a few while experiencing the joys of chickhood. So I bought a few (too many

) and set them up in a generous sized brooder in the basement. Most of them are nearing 4 weeks now and stink. Oh my god, the smell. lol. I *need* them out of my house. I can probabally wait 2 more week since I know y'all will tell me I need to, but I just realized from more reading (here's my I'm an idiot part - not researching enough before this endeavor) - I had planned on just moving them to the big girl coop when they got feathered out enough. Now I'm finding out that they need to be separate until they are full-sized... SO... I need to build another coop?

Do any of you have temporary "in-between" housing set up for your teenagers? Can you share photos if you do?

 

[Judy]

Maybe some kind of a hoop house as pictured here? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=172799

There are lots of these on the coop forum, made of different materials.

Craigslist for a playhouse or dog house, maybe? Or a shed?

 

[joedie]

I did the same thing and I'm sure many of us on here have too! I just built a 3 sided frame out of 2x4's. and put it up against the wall in the coop. I wrapped it with chicken wire and put a hinged lid on top so I could open it up to feed them. The girls could see them and get used to them without picking on them until they got bigger. WHen I thought they were big enough, I put them on the roosts at night after the big girls put themselves away for the night. There really wasn't much of a fuss after that. Sorry, I don't have any pics, I took it apart after I was finished with it.

 

[Steak and Eggs Farm]

I partitioned part of the run with chicken wire and 2"x4" welded wire fence. Inside that I put the small coop for the "teenagers". This way the girls can be beak to beak for a couple months. I usually put the new pullets in with the old hens when they are about four months old. An easy trick for integrating the flock, try to have more pullets than hens or at least a large amount. The old hens won't peck as much if they are outnumbered or feel overwhelmed.

I don't have any pictures because I had to tear down my small coop because It had rotted through and I'm in the process of searching craigslist or building a new one.

 

[allpeepedout]

How many are you trying to house? I think they need 1? sq ft per chick at that age. Here is my setup for 7 4.5 week olds. They are in my house and I completely change out bedding daily, so they hardly smell. In between, I lay down fresh layers of newspaper on top of the dirty so they are clean. The smell is very minor, and the newspaper is free. Maybe connect together a couple of big dog kennels?

 

[corvidae]

Huh, I have 8 6 week old Welsummers in a 4x4 plywood brooder filled with pine shavings. No smell to speak of. I'd like to get them outside just so they have more room, but it's still too cold here. The thing that was getting to me was the danged dust, so I went out and picked up an air purifier--voila, dust problem solved and the room smells even fresher. 'Course, I keep their brooder fairly clean, but right now I haven't had time to clean in 2 days and there's no smell.

 

[ralleia]

I use child playpen panels to set up segregated areas in my chicken coop for competing mommy hens and the like. The panels attach or come apart or swivel--almost any arrangement (within reason) is possible.

http://www.amazon.com/North-States-...s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1301098363&sr=1-3

 

[KWAK]

Quote:
Thats not always the case lol....

i have 5-1/2 week old- 6 week old chicks and put them in with my flock... my hens/roosters always accept new birds in their flock with out any fights!!! not sure why mine always turn out that way but they do lol...

( all six batches that i've had)

my breeds that i have are :
EE
Austrolorp
buff orps.
white leghorns


just added:
brahma (light)
RIR
Buff orps
cornis rocks
new hampshire reds?
and 3 unknown breeds

 

[crazy huhn]

Maybe you can go on Craigs List and find a dog house or used little coop. I have also used a large dog crate or dog kennel in the past. Sometimes you can find them on Craigs List or "Freecycle". An advantage of the dog crate is also, that you can keep it even after the chicks are integrated with your flock as a hospital crate in case you have a sick or injured chicken.

 

[san415]

I stapled hardware cloth to the area under the poo board and then after a couple of weeks made a small area that the chicks could get in and out through. After maybe 2 more weeks once in a while they would go outside.
My one hen would just beat on them, and yes they were as big as they were going to get. So off to chicken "prison" for her. After a 4 day lock down she was ok for maybe a day or two, then right bacck to trying to murder the younger ones. I thought she had killed my polish hen. Got a shovel out and everything. Picked up the Polish and she was alive. She made it through. But I had enough of the very very mean and the very mean hens who were older and there first.
What I did was (it was warm outside) get the hose out and turn on the water. Spent most of one week end spraying the two older hens when ever they got by the young ones. With hose on a stream it was easy to just get the mean hens, not the rest. And it took most of the two days but by Monday everyone was getting along fine. And they still do. ( for the most part)