Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??

[MsChickenMomma]

So you think it's ok if I put them together for the daytime hours and then take them away at night? I guess I'm just wondering if they will 'remember' each other day to day being taken out at sundown and then put back together in the morning? Is that what you did? It will be the heat of the summer so that makes it easier.


Then the hard part is to decide what chicks to get. i have 7 on hold when they come in... 2 Silkies, 2 Cream Brabanter, 2 EE and 1 Silver Spangled Spitzhauben. Silkies are straight run so I'm thinking I have to get 2 but then if 1 is a rooster I have to get rid of it and I'm afraid if the 2 silkies bonded then if 1 is female and a keeper would she be broken hearted if I got rid of the other? So maybe I just get one and take my chances on it being a girl. So then 1 Silkie, 2 Cream Brabanter and 1 EE. Or just one Brabanter and 2 EE. Oh, such decisions. If I could get a guarantee of colored egg like a true Ameraucana or Legbar then I'd just go with 1 of them and 2 Brabanter. Well, there's always next year to add more too

Yes, that's what I did. I put them outside in a cage so that they could interact with the big girls while they were outside. Then I put the little girls back in their brooder at night. I did this until they were about 8 weeks. Then I kept them in a portioned off section of the coop until they were about 13-16 weeks old. They slept in their portioned off section at night too. It worked well for my girls.

I love the breeds you have picked out! It's so hard to narrow it down, isn't it? Lol

 

[NotableNancy]

Yes, that's what I did. I put them outside in a cage so that they could interact with the big girls while they were outside. Then I put the little girls back in their brooder at night. I did this until they were about 8 weeks. Then I kept them in a portioned off section of the coop until they were about 13-16 weeks old. They slept in their portioned off section at night too. It worked well for my girls.

I love the breeds you have picked out! It's so hard to narrow it down, isn't it? Lol

I can do the portioned off part in the run but not the coop. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes and hope for the best. But I can let them hang out during the day together for a few weeks so they really get to know each other and then add them at night to the coop. That will be one sleepless night for me I'm sure.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I can do the portioned off part in the run but not the coop. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes and hope for the best. But I can let them hang out during the day together for a few weeks so they really get to know each other and then add them at night to the coop. That will be one sleepless night for me I'm sure.

That would probably work. I had a hard time sleeping when my girls first went out into the big girl coop too.

 

[dragonlord483]

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[trsturself]

That's what we did too, a smaller enclosed area for the little ones during the day then back to their brooder at night for about a week. Then we would open their area to the bigger area but left a small opening that only they could fit through so they had a safe spot to run from the big girls. There was a little picking but nothing big. After a few days of this we put them in the coop at night but left that hide out for them during the day. There were never any problems at night. The young ones usually slept on the floor at first so they weren't a threat to the big girls.
After awhile they stopped using the hideout and just got out of the way of the big girls.

DH and I were just talking today about plans for a small addition to the existing run that can be partitioned off when we have little ones, a sick one, or any other reason we might need to separate one, with it's own mini coop attached.

 

[MamaShell]

I was SO impresses with a USPS truck driver yesterday evening, he took the initiative to call me on his way to the main post office saying that he'd be there within the hour and I could pick the peeps up there instead of waiting for them to be delivered to my local PO the next morning. He was concerned about them riding in the cold truck the next morning. Just wanted to share that there ARE caring PO workers out there
Anyway, other than 1 DOA Australorp, everybody else is doing great. I got 6 BLR Wyandottes, 5 Speckled Sussex, 2 (live) Australorp, and 25 cornishx broilers. Meyer sent 2 extra cornishx.

That's awesome that the postal worker was so thoughtful. I wish someone on my route was. My chicks flew from Ohio to Bradley Airport then went to the sorting facility in Wallingford, CT (a town bordering mine) then to a facility in Hartford (30 mins away and halfway between Wallingford and the airport) before ending up at my town post office. Crazy. It would have saved the chicks about 3.5 hours of bouncing around if someone at the Wallingford sorting facility thought to call me!!
So glad it worked out for you. Good luck with the new chicks!

 

[MamaShell]

I missed so much I can't catch up with all the posts individually but I'm loving  all the baby pics!!!!
McChickenMomma - is that a new avatar?? You gotta explain 

Well, I'm wondering if people can give me some advice on adding new chicks to my flock of 13 (soon to be 12~ evil nest nazi has to go) 1 yr old hens.  Turns out I can't get a new coop and have to go to just getting about 4 new chicks in mid April. It's not possible to block off an are of my coop due to size so I was wondering if this has been the case with anyone else. My thoughts are, to raise them in the brooder until they are about 8 weeks old and then put them in the very large run during the day in a blocked off area with their own food/water and the big girls can't get to them. Then move them back into the brooder to sleep at night. then after a week, start letting them mingle with the big girls during the day and then finally wen they are about 11-12 weeks old put them into the coop at night while everyone is sleeping. 
Does this sound feasible?  I just don't know how else to do it. And if any of the older girls are truly evil to the young ones then I'll have to deal with them. It would be full summer so I could put evil chickens in a pen in run am and pm and they would be ok weather wise. 
Any suggestions?  Opinions?  
I was looking at some really really cheap coop/runs that I could buy and put adjacent to the existing run when the young ones are about 6-12 weeks old that way they would see each other and then just put the cheap coop/run away until needed again. But I just haven't found anything cheap/small enough yet on craigslist and my husband doesn't have time to build anything.  

Good luck with the new chicks. I am just starting out with my own, so, obviously I don't have any experience mixing old with new. However, when i was researching coops, I did see a YouTube video (Don't laugh, I blame my daughter) from a longtime chicken farmer who said that 8 weeks was the sweet spot for blending the flocks. He said that at 8 weeks the young pullets were more able to protect themselves (even if only by knowing how and when to stay out of the older hens way) and they were young enough to not be perceived as threats by the older hens. So, your plan to start the integration at that time sounds like a good one! He also said that the younger hens should be added to the coop at night when the older ones are tired and darkness helps to keep the younger ones from being noticed. Good luck!! I hope it goes smoother than you could ever imagine!!

 

[Cluck Wild Farm]

This one arrived yesterday in a new shipment from Meyer. She's a little Easter Egger. She reminds me of Marilyn Monroe, with her little beauty mark

Ooooh, I can call her 'Marihen Monroe'!

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

Cluck Wild, that is such a cute picture. I have the hardest time getting clear pictures of the little buggers, they are always moving and I only have a phone camera :/

 

[Cluck Wild Farm]

Thank you! I have the same problem, I took like twenty pictures before I got this one. All the rest were of a tan, blurry little blob

Chicks have such busy little lives, they don't have time for our silly human picture taking, they have chick business to attend to! lol