Integrating chicks, some with broody some without

[BlueDawnRising]

I am sure this is somewhere here so sorry if that is the case! Two days ago I brought home 6 chicks (2 days old, 2 each Welsummer, bielefelder, 55 flowery) and 6 pullets (5 fully feathered and one they told me was about a week younger who still has fluff on her head, 2 appenzeller, 2 Marans, 2 olive Eggers). I had two brooders set up in my basement to keep pullets separated until I could make sure they were healthy and let the littles grow. I had a broody girl in my coop. She seems to always be broody and had been sitting for around 2 weeks, with no eggs. I brought her into the basement (probably my first mistake) to see if she would accept the chicks and she immediately settled on them and hasn’t really moved much unless they come out from under her to eat/drink and she repositions to gather them under her again. She talks with them and they respond. I feel like it has been successful but this is my first time using a broody (I’ve only had chickens for a little over a year…the broody is about 15 months old). I have SO many questions! I realize I should have probably taken the chicks to her instead of bringing her to the chicks but she was in a rollaway, communal nest box and wouldn’t nest anywhere else. Now that she has accepted them, can I move them all to the coop? I have options as to where they would be separated from the original flock (18 mixed breed-Orpingtons, Welsummer, cclb, Easter Eggers, black star, no rooster) but still in the coop where the original flock can see them but couldn’t touch them. If so, do I lock broody in with the chicks? Won’t she want out with the other hens? Do I open it for her to come and go? She can jump out of the brooder I have her in now and doesn’t but that is in my basement. The chicks were only vaccinated for mereks so they are on medicated feed. Do I feed all of my flock medicated chick starter for now? We lost one of the original chicks from my first flock, possibly to coccidiosis but that is unconfirmed (diagnosed here, corrid given but unsuccessful).

Now to the pullets. There was tight bio security at the breeder I purchased from. They can stay in the basement as long as they need to for everyone to be safe but I know you all have said that there is a sweet spot of around 5 weeks, which they are at now) when other flock members kind of ignore them and integration can be easiest. I also have a separate space for them in the coop, a look-don’t touch space. Should I put them out there now since they wouldn’t be sharing food or water? They all puddle together in the brooder when they sleep, even though they have a small roost bar in there. If I put them out in the coop, will they be warm enough? I am in central Illinois where we can have wild temperature swings, to put it mildly. If I put them in the look but don’t touch area, they would be confined to the coop, without access to the run. It is a sizable space though, about 7 feet long, 3 feet deep (at its deepest, tapering at each end because the back wall is curved) and 3.5 feet high. Should I keep them in there for a few weeks so they know that is “home? I probably should have put them out there to begin with but we have had chilly nights and my coop is a small converted grain bin so it cools quickly when the sun goes down.

I do have electricity and can add a brooder plate and/or heat lamp (yes, I know the dangers) to either or both spaces. I had the heat plate in with the chicks and they used it for a few hours before I brought broody in. I left it all day yesterday, in case she decided to abandon them but have since removed it.

Ugh! I know that was long and full of questions! I appreciate all the knowledge here and having a space to ask them all! Pictures of broody with a chick on her back, the pullets and the smallest pullet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know enough about your set-up to be able to give specific advice. Not just the size of the coop and the run but how things are set up, like feeders, waterers, roosts ,and nests. So I'll try to be more "general" as opposed to specific. And I'll put my usual disclaimer, when you are dealing with living animals you don't get guarantees. About anything can happen.

First the broody and those chicks. She seems to have accepted them and they have accepted her. She will now be solely devoted to them until she weans them, maybe in three weeks, maybe in three months. She will not be having a glass of wine and chilling with the other hens while her chicks are off misbehaving while unsupervised. She will be focused.

I let my broody hens raise their chicks with the flock. My nests are high enough off of the floor that the chicks cannot get up in them so the broody just takes them to bed on the coop floor. I have lots of room outside, during the day she takes them to areas away from the others. The other hens usually leave them alone but if the broody feels like her babies are being threatened she kicks butt, literally. You've probably heard the phrase "mad as a wet hen". It should be "mad as a broody hen".

Now for the disclaimers, the "you don't get guarantees" part. It's possible to get a broody hen that will not protect her chicks. I've never had one but some people on this forum have. It's possible one of the other hens will seek out to destroy a chick. Again, I haven't seen it but some people have. A broody generally needs enough room to work. Most of the horror stories come from situations where there is not much room. So your facilities make a difference.

I'm not sure just how old those pullets are. I'm not sure what your low will be in the next several days but looks like your lows could be in the 40's Fahrenheit. I've had chicks 5-1/2 weeks old go through nights in the mid 20's F with no supplemental heat. There is nothing wrong with providing a warm spot with either the lamp or plate. If they need the heat they will use it. If they don't they won't.

Don't be blinded by what somebody says is best. You have to deal with the situation you have, not some mystical mythical "best". Once you decide what you are going to do regarding quarantine, put them outside where they are next to the main flock. House them where they can see each other for at least a week and then let them mingle during the day when you can observe. Give them as much room as you can. What I hope you see is that the pullets form their own sub-flock. They avoid the adults day and night. Don't be concerned about them sleeping on the same roosts at night. Have separate feeders and waterers well spread out. When they grow up they will join the flock. Until them, the goal is no one gets hurt. Nothing more than that, no one gets hurt.

Good luck!

 

[BlueDawnRising]

Thank you so much for replying! Glass of wine and chilling made me laugh! I am attaching pictures of my set up, some during construction and some now. The run is still wrapped because we had a cold spell. I will be taking it down though over the next week.

The pictures below show the inside and outside of the coop. The chickens are also out to free range in the afternoon so they are not in the coop or run all day unless the weather demands it. There is an automatic door between the coop and run. They are usually only in the coop to lay and to roost. There is no feed or water in the coop but I would add it like you see in one of the pictures, under the poop board (that was before we had the run completed). I threw together a space to put broody and the chicks and/or the pullets (not at the same time of course, circles in red below because it is hard to see the hardware cloth) and could easily do the same under the other poop board if they were all in the coop at the same time. I didn’t know the broody would just bed down with the chicks on the floor and assumed she needed an enclosed space.

The bin is 14 ft diameter and they have 2/3 of the space. There are 4 roost bars, the two front ones are 8 ft and the two back are 7. Many roost on the lip of the poop board rather than the bars themselves. The run is 36x12 ft and is 7 ft tall on the tall side. There are 4 feeders (3 cat litter boxes hanging and one automatic hanging on the wall) and two water stations, one pictured, the other near where I am standing to take the picture. The chicks would also have their own in the coop if they were contained there. Pullets are 4 and 5 weeks old. The youngest still has some fluff on her head instead of feathers but the others are fully feathered.

Does any of that change your response? I really appreciate your advice!