Not sure if I need advice, want to warn others, or just need to talk about it. All three of those, I think. I've only had chickens for a year and this is my first time trying to integrate new young ones into the flock. I have a flock of 14 adults, and 23 (now 21) nine-week old chicks. We moved the chicks outside to a run-within-the-run and their own little coop a few weeks ago. This way the adults could see them and check them out during the day. A couple of weeks ago, we started leaving the little run door open so the chicks could venture out into the big run and even out to free-roam if they felt the urge. In encounters with the adults, there was the normal pecking-order behavior, but things seemed to be progressing nicely.
The young ones started hanging out and perching in the big coop so long as the adults weren't around. I guess there was a problem in that the chicks and adults didn't really mix all that much since the adults free-roam. There's usually a hen or two coming and going to lay, but when the adults arrive as a group at night the chicks run scared. Still, the little coop is getting to be too crowded for all those chicks, and they are all half to 2/3 the size of our adults. They are all perching, and in the big coop there is tons of room and low perches that the adults never use. So I decided it was about time to put them all together overnight in the big coop.
Perhaps that was a mistake...perhaps too soon, since the young ones still run scared of the adults? It's not like the adults are even that aggressive. I just see them warn and peck at a chick if they are too close. But here was the BIG mistake. I use the type of chicken waterers that sit on the ground. I put them on cinder blocks to raise them up and keep kicked dirt out of the water. One cinder block w/waterer was sitting at an angle in one corner. More experienced chicken keepers might know what's coming. The next morning I found most of the chicks piled in that corner behind the cinder block, with two dead suffocated chicks on the bottom. A third was close to death as well, but with some care seems to have recovered ok. Those on the bottom of the pile had been trapped by the cinder block with no way to escape once the others piled on.
I moved the corner waterer, so all four corners are wide open now, but still, I let the chicks overnight in the little coop again, separate from the adults. Perhaps another week separate would help. Of course I'm nervous about overnighting them all together again, and wondering if there is anything I could do to make it easier. I thought of putting an escape box or something in the big coop, but I'm afraid that putting anything else in there will just add more ways for them to pile up and trap others. These chicks are just too big for that. Perhaps the open corners of the coop are best, since chicks on the bottom of the pile could more easily escape. Perhaps keeping some of the adults penned up in the big run with the chicks, instead of free roaming, for a few days would help the chicks to integrate with them better? Any ideas?
The young ones started hanging out and perching in the big coop so long as the adults weren't around. I guess there was a problem in that the chicks and adults didn't really mix all that much since the adults free-roam. There's usually a hen or two coming and going to lay, but when the adults arrive as a group at night the chicks run scared. Still, the little coop is getting to be too crowded for all those chicks, and they are all half to 2/3 the size of our adults. They are all perching, and in the big coop there is tons of room and low perches that the adults never use. So I decided it was about time to put them all together overnight in the big coop.
Perhaps that was a mistake...perhaps too soon, since the young ones still run scared of the adults? It's not like the adults are even that aggressive. I just see them warn and peck at a chick if they are too close. But here was the BIG mistake. I use the type of chicken waterers that sit on the ground. I put them on cinder blocks to raise them up and keep kicked dirt out of the water. One cinder block w/waterer was sitting at an angle in one corner. More experienced chicken keepers might know what's coming. The next morning I found most of the chicks piled in that corner behind the cinder block, with two dead suffocated chicks on the bottom. A third was close to death as well, but with some care seems to have recovered ok. Those on the bottom of the pile had been trapped by the cinder block with no way to escape once the others piled on.
I moved the corner waterer, so all four corners are wide open now, but still, I let the chicks overnight in the little coop again, separate from the adults. Perhaps another week separate would help. Of course I'm nervous about overnighting them all together again, and wondering if there is anything I could do to make it easier. I thought of putting an escape box or something in the big coop, but I'm afraid that putting anything else in there will just add more ways for them to pile up and trap others. These chicks are just too big for that. Perhaps the open corners of the coop are best, since chicks on the bottom of the pile could more easily escape. Perhaps keeping some of the adults penned up in the big run with the chicks, instead of free roaming, for a few days would help the chicks to integrate with them better? Any ideas?
