Integrating chicks into flock at 4 weeks old.

[rosemarythyme]

One of us is confusing RUN vs COOP. My RUN is plenty big enough. It's 132' x 35'. My COOP on the other hand is not big enough to separate out a brooder area for 8 chicks where everyone can see each other but not get to them. I have enough room in my coop to put a large dog crate (42-in L x 28-in W x 30-in H) which could be used to introduce 2-3 chicks at a time. I'm not super worried about them in the run itself because there are many places for them to hide and get away.

The confusion is because you used coop/pen which I take to mean a combined coop-run, or something (as "pen" is generally an outdoor enclosure). But nevermind the semantics. Since the coop is smaller, introduce them in the run instead. My chicks never see the inside of the coop until they're already roaming with the adults in the run.

 

[Minky]

Hi! I have 3 chicks and they will be moving out in 2 weeks, they will be 8 weeks old by then! I have 2 hens. How can move the chicls in with them without any injuries?

another thing you can do is actually split up the two hens, and put one in with the 3 chicks. Leave one by herself. then after about a week, you can join them all up.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

another thing you can do is actually split up the two hens, and put one in with the 3 chicks. Leave one by herself. then after about a week, you can join them all up.

I have no where else to keep the other one. My hens are also "joined at the hip"

 

[Minky]

then make sure the littles have food and water where hens can't get to. And hiding spots.

 

[chickfused]

My littles are 5.5 weeks old. My bigs are closer to 4 months old. I have had the littles out sleeping with the bigs (in a confinement section of the bigs enclosure) for about a week now. The littles also have been placed in an outdoor pen every day, all day, because it's been really dang warm here and they're fine. The bigs are curious about them and often hang out near the baby pen. I took a baby out on day 3-4 of them knowing each other and showed it to a big who promptly pecked it in the head (hard). I've kept them seperate every since, but visible. When is it safe to try and introduce them again and how? I have some very, very significant size differences here. One of my littles is so small it may as well be a bantam (Buttercup) and one of my bigs is a monster of a Red Ranger chicken. I'm a bit worried that the RR could literally kill the other with one good peck.

I physically move the littles from pen to coop every morning and night manually because the barn cat is an incorrigible hunter and he would eat them if they ranged at this size with no mama to beat him up.

Any thoughts?

 

[rosemarythyme]

When is it safe to try and introduce them again and how? I have some very, very significant size differences here.

How much space are you working with? Do you have a run or free range only? How much clutter do you have/can add?

I'd give them at least 1-2 weeks of see but don't touch before the next phase, ideally waiting for the older birds to lose their interest in the younger ones.

 

[chickfused]

I have a rabbit hutch inside the bigs' coop. The littles go in there at night to sleep with the bigs. Outside, I have a fenced pen for the babies, but there is no run. The bigs just range all day. This has been the arrangement for about 1.5 weeks now.

 

[aart]

When is it safe to try and introduce them again and how?

The main, and key, premise of this technique is the tiny doors.
Are you using those?

 

[chickfused]

I could maybe flip a storage tote upside down and put a chick sized door hole in it in the coop? I will say that in the coop, the bigs totally ignore the littles now. They couldn't care less about them. And that yesterday when it was raining, I moved them to an indoor pen and the bigs went to visit the outdoor pen that had no babies in it and there was some consternation, but it didn't last very long. Maybe 10 minutes of "Where are they?!" Then they found the open door to the shop where the indoor pen is, and there were big feathers in there, so they must have gone to say hi, but didn't hang around long. Only two poop piles from 7 chickens.

 

[aart]

I could maybe flip a storage tote upside down and put a chick sized door hole in it in the coop?

Probably not a good idea.

Did you read my article in the first post of this thread?
There are 3 different setups for early integration.