Integrating young chicks with hens

[topochico225]

Hey!

I have 3 10 month pullets, they'll be 1 year old hens when the chicks are here. I'm hatching 12 eggs this month, and I'm going to be keeping 2 of the chicks that (hopefully) hatch. The remaining chicks will go back to the supplier of the eggs. I'm going to close off half of the run of the big coop and attach a smaller coop to the remaining end so that they can interact but not be close enough to injure each other. After a little bit, I'm going to let them free range together. What are some tips to remember when I'm integrating the younger birds with the older birds?

TIA!

 

[Mrs. K]

One way gates! An opening that lets the chicks venture out on their terms, and retreat to safety, when threatened. Inside this safety zone, you can have feed and water. The chicks will venture out, and retreat. Chicks learn chicken society, and within a week, are in the flock. I generally start mine about 3-4 weeks.

I have found a fence, lifted off the ground all along the lower edge is the easiest. This keeps a huge space for the chick to escape into, and not get trapped out of safety.

A pallet just a couple of inches off the ground in the middle of the run, is also very helpful as chicks can scurry in from all four sides and bigger chickens just don't fit.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

What are some tips to remember when I'm integrating the younger birds with the older birds?

I like having my brooder in the coop. The chicks essentially grow up with the flock, which I think makes integration easier. And they are trained to return to the coop at night. For this to work you need electricity to the coop and you need a coop big enough. The hardest part of this to me is the wild temperature swings you can get brooding outside. You need to keep an area warm enough in the coldest temperatures and an area cool enough in the warmest. That can be challenging when your temperatures can change 50 degrees Fahrenheit overnight.

All the normal integration things. Lots of room indoors and outside, well scattered feeders and waterers, and clutter that gives them places to hide. It helps to have weather where they can all be outside when they are awake.

Patience. As much as you can, let the do things at their own pace. Don't force them to share a small area, thinking they will fight it out and learn to get along. It doesn't work that way. Don't stick them on the roosts at night, thinking they have to roost. They don't. They can be quite happy sleeping on the floor and not getting beat up by the older girls. I don't care where mine sleep as long as it is not in the nests and is somewhere predator safe. When they feel comfortable they will move to the main roosts on their own. I try to interfere with them as little as I can.

Never a single chick or chicken. An absolute minimum of two. They are social animals and really do better with company. Until they reach a certain maturity level and join the main flock pecking order they need a buddy. It's OK if the two or more of them form a sub-flock and don't hang out with the adults. That's normal in my flock.

You can use some form of creep feeder to keep the hens from eating what you feed the chicks. You cannot keep the chicks from eating what you feed the hens. By the time my broody-raised chicks are two weeks old they are flying up to the big-girl feeders. I usually have immature chickens in my flock so I never feed Layer with the higher calcium content. Instead I feed a low-calcium Starter or Grower to all of them with oyster shell on the side for the ones that need the calcium for their egg shells.

Personally I like my chicks to develop a strong a strong immune system instead of trying to raise them in a sterile environment and then exposing them to the world unprepared. So on the second or third day in the brooder I start feeding them a small amount of dirt from the run where the big chickens are, maybe twice a week. This gets grit in their system, gets probiotics into their system that the older ones have to share, and gets them started on flock immunities if they need that. I'm mainly thinking of immunity to Coccidiosis but there are others. By the time mine leave the brooder and hit the ground they have developed any immunity they need to Coccidiosis if it is there to start with. I can observe my chicks better in the brooder than if they out running around. If you keep the brooder dry Coccidiosis is seldom a problem anyway but it is easier to spot in the brooder.

A lot of this is personal preference, we all have that. I think these are the things that have kept me from ever losing a brooder-raised or broody-raised chick to another adult in my flock. Luck plays into that too.

Good luck and welcome to this part of the adventure.

 

[aart]

Here are 3 set ups for brooding/integrating chicks within the coop/run.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[aart]

Well, lift it up a bit more? My point is not to have a trap area.

Or keep the bedding cleared away, which I got tired of doing.
Bedding was loose and getting shifted/kicked around by all the birds.
3 tiny doors work here.
Just wanted to point out something to keep an eye on.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thoughts? Opinions?

My thoughts and opinions, get a bigger coop. Somehow I think you will need it later if not sooner. I think you have started down a slippery slope.

I'd give myself access to the littles' run space. I'd be willing to bet you'll need to get in there. Hopefully that is in your plans. Always build so it is convenient to you.

The general plan sounds really good to me.

 

[Sally PB]

I'd give myself access to the littles' run space.

Yes, that is definitely in the plan. I am also looking at ways to enlarge both the coop and the run. The coop is built on a trailer to be movable, so I'm a little bit limited on making that bigger. I asked the builder (hubby) about knocking out a side to add on, and he thought that was possible.

Thanks for your input.

 

[aart]

I have found a fence, lifted off the ground all along the lower edge is the easiest. This keeps a huge space for the chick to escape into, and not get trapped out of safety.

I tried this, the bedding piled up and blocked the access.

 

[Mrs. K]

Well, lift it up a bit more? My point is not to have a trap area.

 

[jonalisa]

One way gates! An opening that lets the chicks venture out on their terms, and retreat to safety, when threatened. Inside this safety zone, you can have feed and water. The chicks will venture out, and retreat. Chicks learn chicken society, and within a week, are in the flock. I generally start mine about 3-4 weeks.

I have found a fence, lifted off the ground all along the lower edge is the easiest. This keeps a huge space for the chick to escape into, and not get trapped out of safety.

A pallet just a couple of inches off the ground in the middle of the run, is also very helpful as chicks can scurry in from all four sides and bigger chickens just don't fit.

Mrs K

Wow, that pallet is a great idea!