LtDanFan
In the Brooder
I will be kicking my pullets out of the brooder soon. They are 4 weeks old today, so will be 5-6 weeks old when they are out out for good. They are pretty much fully feathered and have been flying out of the brooder every time i lift the lid for over a week now.
I am curious what people think the best way to do this is. Here’s the set up. I have about a 400 square foot chicken yard with a large coop and a small coop. The small coop is open to the entire yard and the large coop is surrounded by a smaller run area. Last time, I separated the youngins in the run area and let the hens have run of the yard as a “look but don’t touch” method. This meant that the pullets (and a duck) had the bigger coop but less exercise space. Once they seemed to get along through the fence, i started letting the pullets out into the larger yard and once they spent most of the day together without major incidents, i have been leaving the run door open and they have all had access to both coops and the entire yard space. Since they have been all one flock (well, actually 2 small flocks that share space lol) the hens have taken to laying preferentially in the nesting boxes in the larger coop.
At night, they all coop up together, usually in the large coop but occasionally in the smaller one (weirdos). But during the day, they pretty much keep to themselves as 2 groups (the pullets and duck vs the hens). Sooo, would it be better to lock up the hens (and maybe even the pullets) in the smaller run and larger coop or keep the littles confined to the smaller run with with a bigger coop and force the hens to lay in the other nest boxes?
I thought about having my boyfriend build a run around the smaller coop and confining the littles to that space, but he may not have time to do this and they are rapidly outgrowing their brooder. I can probably only keep them there another 2 weeks at most, and that may be pushing it. That would get them to about 6 weeks. Plus the weather is warm enough here that they haven’t had to have supplemental heat in at least 2.5 weeks.
I am curious what people think the best way to do this is. Here’s the set up. I have about a 400 square foot chicken yard with a large coop and a small coop. The small coop is open to the entire yard and the large coop is surrounded by a smaller run area. Last time, I separated the youngins in the run area and let the hens have run of the yard as a “look but don’t touch” method. This meant that the pullets (and a duck) had the bigger coop but less exercise space. Once they seemed to get along through the fence, i started letting the pullets out into the larger yard and once they spent most of the day together without major incidents, i have been leaving the run door open and they have all had access to both coops and the entire yard space. Since they have been all one flock (well, actually 2 small flocks that share space lol) the hens have taken to laying preferentially in the nesting boxes in the larger coop.
At night, they all coop up together, usually in the large coop but occasionally in the smaller one (weirdos). But during the day, they pretty much keep to themselves as 2 groups (the pullets and duck vs the hens). Sooo, would it be better to lock up the hens (and maybe even the pullets) in the smaller run and larger coop or keep the littles confined to the smaller run with with a bigger coop and force the hens to lay in the other nest boxes?
I thought about having my boyfriend build a run around the smaller coop and confining the littles to that space, but he may not have time to do this and they are rapidly outgrowing their brooder. I can probably only keep them there another 2 weeks at most, and that may be pushing it. That would get them to about 6 weeks. Plus the weather is warm enough here that they haven’t had to have supplemental heat in at least 2.5 weeks.
