Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[bruceha2000]

Thanks Blooie.

She is fine with the other hen she was raised with, but certainly is giving me a run for my money with these chicks. I could probably easily rehome her with a friend of mine who has a much larger flock and roosters and thus, she'd have to get in line. I really would prefer not to, though, as we need the eggs! With such a small flock numbers count so much, and we've got months before we're getting eggs from the babies.

If anyone else has suggestions, please let me know.

If not, I'm going to try isolating her in the coop. How do you deal with nest box access in that situation? Would I need to give her a nest box inside the crate? Or could I just put her in the henhouse for a few hours? That part of it is giving me a headache.

Perhaps you could trade your friend, one of his/her birds for one of yours. Be aware that if your 2 older birds are over a year old, they may not lay much this winter unless you force them with light. Some say 12 hours minimum per day, some say 14.

 

[henless]

Maybe you can build the chicks a separate coop on the other end of the run? Give them a door into the run just like the first coop, then they would have their own house to go to at night. It might help cut down on the pecking.

My opinion, I think the "minimum" spacing really isn't enough. If your chickens free range all day every day, it might would do. It also depends on how the chickens act with each other. Since you have a really bossy hen, you may have to go above the minimums in order to have peace within the flock.

 

[AllynTal]

...If anyone else has suggestions, please let me know....

I haven't read every post, so I might be off base here. You have 6-week-old chicks that are getting bullied in the coop? I don't know what 'panic' door arrangement you have, but giving them some safe spaces in the coop might help.

My chicks brooder in the coop in a chicken wire box so the bigs can't get to them, but everyone can see and be seen.


As the final step in my integration process, I lift that box up so the littles can be out in the coop with the bigs, but if one of the hens gets mean (and it seems like there always is one that will), the littles can scoot under the box to safety, but the bigs still can't get to them:


You can see in the picture that the box is lifted up on patio blocks to raise it off the floor. When the chicks are little, they use that box a lot and sleep under it until they're big enough to handle being with the bigs. The mean hen can block a 'door', but if there's a large enough area for the little to shoot for to get into the safe space, the hen can't block it all. You can put a couple of safe spaces in the coop using milk crates or scraps of plywood. Pieces of 4x4 or bricks can raise it enough for the littles to scoot under. Just weight down whatever you use so it can't get knocked off and if using something like a milk crate, consider putting something solid on top because the bigs will stand on it and poop and you want to avoid having the littles getting pooped on while in their safe space.

Chickens hate strangers among them and will drive off or kill any new chicken trying to join the flock. IMO, you can't integrate new birds into the flock by segregating them. Everyone has to see and be seen and the bigs need to get used to having the littles among them. Gradually, the new chickens are allowed to be in the flock. The trick is keeping the littles safe until the bigs accept their presence.

 

[azygous]

Way back when I came up with my panic room and idea for my 5 x 7" portals, I ran across a safe pen setup just like you have that created a narrow, horizontal access instead of rectangular entrances. Having a broad, but horizontally narrow access is a superior idea for creating a safe place for baby chicks in that, as you point out, they aren't likely to be trapped without any way to get to safety.

Not all runs are equipped to accommodate such a system as yours. My run is too complex with partitions instead of a single large space. So that's why I have a portal in every single partition and in places where a chick might get boxed in with no avenue of escape.

Chicks will run along a fence until they run into an access point. If you only have one access into a safe pen, a chick may not be able to get to safety in time to avoid injury when chased by an adult bully.

The concept of a panic room is very simple. It's a safe space where adults can't follow small chicks. But however it's set up, the importance of plenty of access points for the chicks can't be stressed enough.

 

[saraem]

The "rule of thumb" is for established flocks. You need about double that when trying to integrate.

This makes complete sense.

 

[saraem]

Perhaps you could trade your friend, one of his/her birds for one of yours. Be aware that if your 2 older birds are over a year old, they may not lay much this winter unless you force them with light. Some say 12 hours minimum per day, some say 14.

We've actually talked about trading! She's up for it if it comes to that.

The 2 hens we have are only about 8 months, so luckily we're still getting plenty of eggs!

I haven't read every post, so I might be off base here. You have 6-week-old chicks that are getting bullied in the coop? I don't know what 'panic' door arrangement you have, but giving them some safe spaces in the coop might help.

My chicks brooder in the coop in a chicken wire box so the bigs can't get to them, but everyone can see and be seen.


As the final step in my integration process, I lift that box up so the littles can be out in the coop with the bigs, but if one of the hens gets mean (and it seems like there always is one that will), the littles can scoot under the box to safety, but the bigs still can't get to them:


Chickens hate strangers among them and will drive off or kill any new chicken trying to join the flock. IMO, you can't integrate new birds into the flock by segregating them. Everyone has to see and be seen and the bigs need to get used to having the littles among them. Gradually, the new chickens are allowed to be in the flock. The trick is keeping the littles safe until the bigs accept their presence.

My setup is actually IDENTICAL to this! And I'm using the same concept for "panic doors" - lifting the whole box up on bricks at each corner.

Your last point makes a lot of sense and maybe I'm just being impatient. I've never done this integration thing before. I'll just keep at it, letting them free range together as much as possible and testing out lifting the box when I can be there to closely supervise.

 

[bruceha2000]

You are in fat (egg??) city for the winter @saraem

 

[FlyWheel]

Quote: The way I integrated my August flock with the older birds was to have them in a large dog cage inside the main run while I was building their new coop. They stayed there until the coop was finished (and they became too big for the cage). I then took them out of the cage and put all of them, pullets, hens and the rooster into the coop while I built their new run. Surprisingly, even thought they were all locked up together for two days everyone got along great, no pecking at all. They all established their new 'pecking order' without fuss.

I think it was the few weeks the were all together yet still separate that worked.

 

[aart]

The way I integrated my August flock with the older birds was to have them in a large dog cage inside the main run while I was building their new coop. They stayed there until the coop was finished (and they became too big for the cage). I then took them out of the cage and put all of them, pullets, hens and the rooster into the coop while I built their new run. Surprisingly, even thought they were all locked up together for two days everyone got along great, no pecking at all. They all established their new 'pecking order' without fuss.

I think it was the few weeks the were all together yet still separate that worked.

Dog cage probably helped...but big thing was the new coop, no territoriality issues with either group in a brand new environment.

 

[tomfarin]

Hello All,

Nine sex-link chickens were a birthday present to my wife. They were cheap. The coop is a different matter.

But we won't go there. It was complete about 5 days ago. As of two days ago it is secure.

Our chicks spent the first two weeks indoors in a repurposed dog crate. This is their portrait at 3 weeks. As you can see, they already have mastered roosting.



They started out with a heat lamp. Then I came across this thread and ordered a heating pad. About five days ago i started putting them outside in the coop during day hours along with mama heating pad. As of two days ago, they are out all night. Right now they are 3 1/2 weeks old. Weather has been unseasonably warm for Wisconsin. That will change this weekend when nights will be in the 20s and daytime high in the low 30s. Tomorrow I plan to move mother heating pad up into the hen house. It is much more sheltered. They are readily climbing their ladder and seem to enjoy looking out the windows.

We had one pasty butt incident two weeks ago. i followed instructions in this forum. Problem solved. Other than that they appear to be thriving.

So why am I writing this post? I just want to thank you all for the support. We are first time chicken owners. We started with 9 peeps. Right now we have 9 young ladies.

Tom