Hi, Peeps!
We got our chicks at the same time, but from two different places. Our younger chicks (now 5 weeks) are a mixed group from a local feed store, and our two older silkies (13 weeks old) are from a friend who's also a new chicken owner. When we got the silkies, they were 10 weeks old and already used to putting themselves into the coop at night. Over the last week, we've been putting them all in a shared enclosure outside during the day with the two groups separated by a barrier. They had their first "in person" introduction yesterday with two chicks at a time, and we brought everyone together today to share some cheese and strawberries. It's gone pretty well. I've also put the chicks into the coop to explore it yesterday and today while the silkies were free-ranging, and I've had them all in the run section of the coop together with a barrier that the chicks could cross, but the silkies could not. It was going great until...
This evening... I left the chicks in the run section of the coop thinking maaaaaaaybeeeeee the would follow the silkies up the ramp and into the coop. Instead, they piled into the corner of the run closest to the house and cheeped their little hearts out. So, I brought them back in to their indoor pen. I would love to get everyone into the coop sooner rather than later. While I don't want to rush it, I've also been reading that it's easier to integrate birds when younger. In LA, it's hot right now. The chicks are getting nicely feathered at this point, and it's been in the 70's at night, so I'm not concerned about them being cold. I am concerned about how we get them ready to roost with the silkies.
The silkies seem happy cuddled up in the pine shavings on the coop floor, and our younger chicks have been comfortable roosting in the indoor pen, but the chicks seem to be up and down through out the night and don't go to bed with the sun like the silkies do. They're pretty chirpy in the evenings - it's 10:15pm now and they've just gotten quiet. And the new chicks are still smaller than the silkies, but better fliers. I'd love to hear suggestions from more experienced chicken owners regarding what our next steps should be... Do we stick with the barrier in the run for a while longer? Do we bring the silkies inside for a night and "sleep train" the younger chicks in the coop without the silkies around? Am I trying to integrate the newer chicks too early based on age/size?
Also, I do know the coop we have will ultimately be too small. We're finishing our big run this weekend, so the run I'm talking about is the section under the coop and around the ramp. We'll be building onto our set up as the new chicks get bigger - which is happening fast! OMG, they grow quick!
We got our chicks at the same time, but from two different places. Our younger chicks (now 5 weeks) are a mixed group from a local feed store, and our two older silkies (13 weeks old) are from a friend who's also a new chicken owner. When we got the silkies, they were 10 weeks old and already used to putting themselves into the coop at night. Over the last week, we've been putting them all in a shared enclosure outside during the day with the two groups separated by a barrier. They had their first "in person" introduction yesterday with two chicks at a time, and we brought everyone together today to share some cheese and strawberries. It's gone pretty well. I've also put the chicks into the coop to explore it yesterday and today while the silkies were free-ranging, and I've had them all in the run section of the coop together with a barrier that the chicks could cross, but the silkies could not. It was going great until...
This evening... I left the chicks in the run section of the coop thinking maaaaaaaybeeeeee the would follow the silkies up the ramp and into the coop. Instead, they piled into the corner of the run closest to the house and cheeped their little hearts out. So, I brought them back in to their indoor pen. I would love to get everyone into the coop sooner rather than later. While I don't want to rush it, I've also been reading that it's easier to integrate birds when younger. In LA, it's hot right now. The chicks are getting nicely feathered at this point, and it's been in the 70's at night, so I'm not concerned about them being cold. I am concerned about how we get them ready to roost with the silkies.
The silkies seem happy cuddled up in the pine shavings on the coop floor, and our younger chicks have been comfortable roosting in the indoor pen, but the chicks seem to be up and down through out the night and don't go to bed with the sun like the silkies do. They're pretty chirpy in the evenings - it's 10:15pm now and they've just gotten quiet. And the new chicks are still smaller than the silkies, but better fliers. I'd love to hear suggestions from more experienced chicken owners regarding what our next steps should be... Do we stick with the barrier in the run for a while longer? Do we bring the silkies inside for a night and "sleep train" the younger chicks in the coop without the silkies around? Am I trying to integrate the newer chicks too early based on age/size?
Also, I do know the coop we have will ultimately be too small. We're finishing our big run this weekend, so the run I'm talking about is the section under the coop and around the ramp. We'll be building onto our set up as the new chicks get bigger - which is happening fast! OMG, they grow quick!