Hi Everyone, I raised babies for the first time this spring. I got them April 13th at one day old.
They stayed in the dog kennel until right about week 4 when they ran out of room. I know most say around 10-12 weeks to release to the coop but I integrated sooner.
What I did was take our rabbit hutch (kids had it for guinea pigs, did not work out well) and put that in the coop. At 4.5 weeks old I moved them to the hutch where they could all see each other. I would let them out for about 5 minutes or so each day to run a bit and flap their wings and see how the others treated them. It went very well, a few chasers but nothing else. As they got to 5 and 6 weeks I would let them out longer and they were dying to get out too. Soon enough I tried one hour with constant checks and then would put them back, then I let them go 2-3 hours. Finally at 7 weeks old I said lets try around 5pm and see how they go back. Well they found their way, roosted, and went to bed just fine. Ever since then they have been free of the hutch. I also fed them their baby food (which I think the big ones enjoyed some too) alongside bowls of full grown food. And by week 9 they were done with it and no problems.
So at 7 weeks old they were with full grown birds and they all get along great. They are now 15 weeks old and bigger then the leghorns and almost wyanndote size. It is obvious they are still lower on the pecking order as they will still get chased when the treats come out.
I put a picture of them roosting, they are the two reds and barred rocks on the lower level.
I hope this helps some people with their ideas when integrating.
They stayed in the dog kennel until right about week 4 when they ran out of room. I know most say around 10-12 weeks to release to the coop but I integrated sooner.
What I did was take our rabbit hutch (kids had it for guinea pigs, did not work out well) and put that in the coop. At 4.5 weeks old I moved them to the hutch where they could all see each other. I would let them out for about 5 minutes or so each day to run a bit and flap their wings and see how the others treated them. It went very well, a few chasers but nothing else. As they got to 5 and 6 weeks I would let them out longer and they were dying to get out too. Soon enough I tried one hour with constant checks and then would put them back, then I let them go 2-3 hours. Finally at 7 weeks old I said lets try around 5pm and see how they go back. Well they found their way, roosted, and went to bed just fine. Ever since then they have been free of the hutch. I also fed them their baby food (which I think the big ones enjoyed some too) alongside bowls of full grown food. And by week 9 they were done with it and no problems.
So at 7 weeks old they were with full grown birds and they all get along great. They are now 15 weeks old and bigger then the leghorns and almost wyanndote size. It is obvious they are still lower on the pecking order as they will still get chased when the treats come out.
I put a picture of them roosting, they are the two reds and barred rocks on the lower level.
I hope this helps some people with their ideas when integrating.
