Introducing fall chicks to 10-year-old hen in December

[SueT]

@broadwing, I was just wondering, your 10 year old has lived such a long time ...what have you been feeding her and to what else do you attribute this longevity?

 

[broadwing]

@broadwing, I was just wondering, your 10 year old has lived such a long time ...what have you been feeding her and to what else do you attribute this longevity?

I don't remember if I started her on organic crumbles or not, but the last several years it's been organic pellets and scratch grains (sorry, I don't recall the brand and the feed store doesn't list their stock on the website...it's not one of the major ones). I throw a couple of handfuls of oyster shell into the run every couple of weeks in the summer, and when we're home we let them out into the yard as often as possible for the day, pretty much all day on the weekends. They take dust baths under the arborvitae hedge, and I throw some diatomaceous earth in there every once in a while, though none have seemed to have any problems with bugs. We give them kitchen scraps all the time; grapes are a HUGE favorite.

Overall I think it's the combination of relatively mellow PNW climate and no artificial light, because we've never heated or lit the coop. Holly was a year old when we got her, but made it to 11 and she was never quite as sound as Dahlia is (the greedy thing ate too fast and was always choking herself). If Dahlia doesn't mind being solo until this new trio can go outside, she's as healthy now as she was two or three years ago and will probably start laying again for a couple months around April. Our friends down the street with buff orps keep their coop warm and bright 24/7 and while their husbandry is mostly the same as us and their birds are egg machines for way longer than Dahlia was, their chickens kind of burn out and die...they've also gone through at least two rounds of orps in Dahlia's lifetime.

Here's a pic of the old girls (Dahlia in front, obviously) last January, the first nice day we had after an ugly few weeks of ice storms. I usually chase them off the deck but let them sun because they'd been cooped up for so long.

 

[SueT]

So also she has been free range.....right?

 

[broadwing]

I don't leave them out during the day when we're at work because of the doofus in my avatar pic, who likes to play with them whether they want to or not...but yeah, otherwise they're free-range as often as we can let them, though they tend to stay indoors by choice when it's rainy.

 

[lazy gardener]

Doofus looks like a fun luvin guy!

 

[cockadoodledont]

I'm hoping for some reassurances. I've raised chicks in August and put them out in October before, but this batch came in October and we're just getting ready to put them out. I'm nervous!

It has been unseasonably warm here in Colorado, but that's about to change. High of 60 and low of 30 today, but expecting some snow and wind tomorrow with high of 40 and low of 20 degrees (Fahrenheit). The rest of the week looks a little more mild, but it's only going to get colder, so I don't want to wait.

Today will be their fourth day being outside in a separate pen from the two in the existing flock (look but no touch), and then back into the garage at night. Yesterday we did give them the chance to come out of the pen under strict supervision. They didn't venture too far. All but one (probably a rooster lol) are shy of the big girls.

They will be eight weeks old in just two more days. Six bantams (E.E. D'uccle, Cochin and Silkie), two standard (Cochin and Black Australorp). All but a couple are fully feathered, and those who aren't are just missing a few cheek feathers.

They are being introduced to a Silkie, who has met and outlived several batches of chicks, and is always kind to them; and a BCM who was a February baby and seems to want absolutely nothing to do with the chicks. I tried to bring everyone together with some treats yesterday and the Marans would lower her head at the chicks, but not peck. The sassy little porcelain walked right up to her and tried to share a grape and she took a step back and put her hackles up, and when little britches didn't budge, she just walked away.

Given that nobody is being too aggressive, and the weather will only get worse, I think I'll just put the chicks straight into the coup on Tuesday with an extra setup of food and water for just in case. It's not as long of an integration as they recommend for the playpen method, but I don't know what else to do.
Thoughts?

 

[azygous]

Go ahead and try it. It sounds like you have a good handle on what to expect from the two older hens, and your chicks seem to have an abundance of self confidence.

The coop scene at night isn't where your integration problems will arise, and if you have plenty of space for the chicks to move around during the day, you should have a very uneventful integration.

My forecast in this part of our state is for single digits at night this week. I have some elderly hens, myself, and when it promises to be so unrelenting cold, I hang a heat lamp for them to warm under during the day. Only the nine and ten-year old usually take advantage of it. The rest grumble about the cold, but don't seem to require a warm-up station. At night I have an electric oil heater in each coop set on the lowest setting to keep the temps just barely above freezing.

I would perhaps consider doing something of this sort for your chicks since they are probably not quite acclimatized yet, and their bodies may lack enough mass to hold onto body heat through extreme cold.

Other than that, everyone should be so lucky to have your flock dynamics.

 

[cockadoodledont]

Go ahead and try it. It sounds like you have a good handle on what to expect from the two older hens, and your chicks seem to have an abundance of self confidence.

The coop scene at night isn't where your integration problems will arise, and if you have plenty of space for the chicks to move around during the day, you should have a very uneventful integration.

My forecast in this part of our state is for single digits at night this week. I have some elderly hens, myself, and when it promises to be so unrelenting cold, I hang a heat lamp for them to warm under during the day. Only the nine and ten-year old usually take advantage of it. The rest grumble about the cold, but don't seem to require a warm-up station. At night I have an electric oil heater in each coop set on the lowest setting to keep the temps just barely above freezing.

I would perhaps consider doing something of this sort for your chicks since they are probably not quite acclimatized yet, and their bodies may lack enough mass to hold onto body heat through extreme cold.

Other than that, everyone should be so lucky to have your flock dynamics.

Thank you! I've never heated the coup before, but in this instance I think you're right, it is merited. Plus. . .it will make me feel better. =p
I've never heard of an electric oil heater before, is that more safe than a heat lamp?

 

[azygous]

Electric oil heaters have been around for ages. They resemble old fashioned steam radiator units they used to put in all apartment and hotel rooms. They're oil filled and the oil is heated, then they radiate the heat, eliminating any exposed heating element. There's practically no danger of fire with them. Not expensive, either. https://www.veryvery.com/products/mainstays-electric-oil-filled-portable-heater-white

 

[cockadoodledont]

Electric oil heaters have been around for ages. They resemble old fashioned steam radiator units they used to put in all apartment and hotel rooms. They're oil filled and the oil is heated, then they radiate the heat, eliminating any exposed heating element. There's practically no danger of fire with them. Not expensive, either. https://www.veryvery.com/products/mainstays-electric-oil-filled-portable-heater-white

That's great! Thank you!