Hey there BYC! As any real chicken addict, we’re only in August and I am already thinking about adding chickens to my flock next year... As I am a BIG planner, I want to pick your brains!
We currently have a flock of 12 pullets. Got them as chicks in the end of March so they will be over a year old when new babies are integrated. We want a flock of 18, so we’re looking to add 6 next year.
I think I have a pretty good plan for keeping them separated for the first several weeks in the coop and by dividing the run.... but there are some logistics I am unclear on.
First, how long should new chicks be kept separated from the adult birds? If they grow side by side(with a barrier while they adjust to each other), how long does it take? Is it mostly until they are big enough to hold their own? Say, 12 weeks?
That raises the question of feed. Do the new hens need to be kept separate until they can consume the layer feed that the older chickens eat? That would be at about 16 weeks, and for a small time chicken “farmer” that’s off grid and has no outbuildings besides our newly built 8x10 coop, that brings more concern. Once our girls hit 12 weeks, they were pretty much full grown and needed much more space. In instances like this, is it really the end of the world if new hens start eating later feed a few weeks early? I obviously don’t want to damage my hens health, so I’m just asking so I can do right by them
I want to be able to rotate new birds in every so often, and maybe eventually start hatching our own chicks... but I’d like to not need to have two completely separate coops to make this happen. I could see myself building a small secondary coop down the road, but not for a few years. I feel like there’s got to be a way to do it with one for now!?
We currently have a flock of 12 pullets. Got them as chicks in the end of March so they will be over a year old when new babies are integrated. We want a flock of 18, so we’re looking to add 6 next year.
I think I have a pretty good plan for keeping them separated for the first several weeks in the coop and by dividing the run.... but there are some logistics I am unclear on.
First, how long should new chicks be kept separated from the adult birds? If they grow side by side(with a barrier while they adjust to each other), how long does it take? Is it mostly until they are big enough to hold their own? Say, 12 weeks?
That raises the question of feed. Do the new hens need to be kept separate until they can consume the layer feed that the older chickens eat? That would be at about 16 weeks, and for a small time chicken “farmer” that’s off grid and has no outbuildings besides our newly built 8x10 coop, that brings more concern. Once our girls hit 12 weeks, they were pretty much full grown and needed much more space. In instances like this, is it really the end of the world if new hens start eating later feed a few weeks early? I obviously don’t want to damage my hens health, so I’m just asking so I can do right by them
I want to be able to rotate new birds in every so often, and maybe eventually start hatching our own chicks... but I’d like to not need to have two completely separate coops to make this happen. I could see myself building a small secondary coop down the road, but not for a few years. I feel like there’s got to be a way to do it with one for now!?