Introducing 8 week olds into coop

[missoulachicken]

hi, thanks for reading. I have 5 laying hens of varying ages and breeds - ameracauna, leghorn/australorp crosses, between 16 weeks and 2 years old. They get along fine and the 3 older ones are laying regularly. I also have five 8-week old chicks - 4 of them seem to be pullets, 1 is almost certainly a rooster. The 8 week olds are currently in a 10 square foot corner of the garage, growing fast and doing well. I have a coop that is 75+ square feet plus a run that is about 65+ square feet. They are able to free range across 1 acre about 1x a week - I'd let them free range more but we have a lot of coyotes so I need to be pretty vigilant.
So, it's time to get the chicks out of the garage and introduce them to coop life! I have access to a dog crate that is 28" x 48". My tentative plan is to put the chicks into the dog crate (with their own food and water) and place them inside the coop every day for a week or so, and return them to the garage to sleep at night. Then, after a week or so, place them on the coop roost at night, everyone wakes up the morning and coop life continues. Here are my questions:

> Feed: I bought an all-ages crumble that I'm planning to continue using for the whole flock until the chicks are 12 weeks or so, then put everybody on the layer pellets plus oyster shell. Sound OK?
> Rooster: I'm pretty sure one of my chicks is a rooster - he's big, croaky, and tries to mount his sisters. If I decide to keep him, won't he certainly butt heads in the coop with my #1 laying hen currently? Would you advise I send him along to a new home?
> Does the dog crate plan sound OK? Is the 28" x 48" crate space enough room for the five 8-week olds? Should I affix chicken wire around the dog crate, too, to prevent pecking?

Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

 

[missoulachicken]

thanks

 

[Smarcebird]

My advice is to take it slow. We did a really similar setup with the babies inside a fence in the run for several weeks, free ranged together, then introduced at night. It went badly. 2 chicks pecked to death by my 5 big girls. Ugh.

Not trying to scare you, but I'd try to wait till they are more of a similar size. Some people wait until all are laying to introduce. Just trying to save someone the horrible morning I had. Good luck!

 

[Den in Penn]

Hold off on the layer until the young ones are near the Point Of Lay (POL) Definitely wait until they are nearer the same size to do the finial integration. Add the chicken wire partition in the run with the dog crate. The more time you can give them facing each other through the wire the better. When you free range you cold range the young ones as well. It will give them a chance to interact and the young ones the room to avoid the hens if they need to. Keeping the rooster depends on what you want. And welcome to BYC

 

[missoulachicken]

Thanks, all! I ended up just creating an enclosure inside the coop made of wire and a little bit of wood. So far so good, they have been enclosed for 2 nights and seem to be doing OK. The big gals are not psyched about the situation (crowing a lot) but they are making do.

I bought a Mixed Flock feed (Purina) that I am planning to use once I take the pullets out of the enclosure, the gal at the feed store said it's safe for all ages to eat. Still haven't decided about the rooster - he's a pretty Ameraucana named "Blue." of course he's the best looking one

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the advice on waiting until they're a similar size. I'm thinking wait on integration until 10 weeks or so ???

And, I'm going to write a new post about this someplace else, but my 3 laying hens (1 brown australorp cross, 2 ameraucanas) stopped laying suddenly about 4 days ago. (this was 3 days before the chicks were introduced to the coop). Nothing new or out of the ordinary except it finally got hot (I live in MT and we have LONG cool springs thru June). Could it be the heat? Anything I can supplement their diet with? Thanks.

 

[missoulachicken]

I thought I would share a kind of funny story of what happened in the coop last night. I went outside around 10 pm to shut the door between the coop and the run. I then went around to the human door to poke my head in and check on them. all the adult hens were roosting nicely on their perches. but the young rooster and 2 pullets that HAD been contained within the wire/plywood enclosure had somehow gotten OUT of the enclosure and were perched on top of it. they were cuddled together seemingly sleeping. all was silent. I decided to risk it and leave everything be, rather than go inside and cause a ruckus that late at night. This morning I went out, opened the door to the run. I could hear my top layer, 'Miss Brown,' cackling inside. I kind of feared the worst, but I opened the door and my 5 layers came trooping out into the run. I ran around the other side, opened the door and went in. the rooster and 1 pullet were still on top of the enclosure, 1 of the pullets was down on the ground of the coop, but they were all totally fine. I caught the 3 of them and put them back in the enclosure, I also found the gap where they had crawled out and fixed it up, so they shouldn't escape again. But, I'm taking it as a good sign that they didn't get harassed or pecked and everyone spent the night together OK. these chickens are something else

 

[Den in Penn]

Sounds as if your are at the point of letting them mingle at will. If they have a way of escaping or getting out of sight from the others, that would be good. The rule of waiting until they are the same size is a guide not a law. A lot of the time when all the conditions good it has flexibility.

 

[nbuel]

I have 5- 16wks olds(GC & RIR) and I just bought 8- Marans that are about 2wks old. I have been wondering how I am going to integrate them all in the same coop & run. My ladies free range but on hot days i keep them in the run since it is in the shade & cooler. I'm nervous about putting my girls in with my ladies! What is a good age to start integrating the two ages?

 

[Den in Penn]

I have 5- 16wks olds(GC & RIR) and I just bought 8- Marans that are about 2wks old. I have been wondering how I am going to integrate them all in the same coop & run. My ladies free range but on hot days i keep them in the run since it is in the shade & cooler. I'm nervous about putting my girls in with my ladies! What is a good age to start integrating the two ages?

They will have to be much closer in size before you can integrate. Say when the Marans are around 14 to 15 weeks. If you can have it so the older ones get used to the younger ones by seeing them it will go better.. Free ranging together is a good start. If you have a lot of range you could let them out sooner while you watch.