Moving chicks of different ages from brooder to coop

[aslrunner]

I have 6 chicks. Four of them are 5 weeks old (2 White Rocks, 2 Red Sexlinks), fully feathered and will be ready to move to the coop soon, and two 3 week old (Ameracauna) chicks, which of course will need to stay in the brooder a little longer. So far, everyone is getting along famously. Never had a problem with the older chicks pecking the younger ones. My concern is if the older chicks go out to the coop and establish it as their territory, then the smaller ones join them a couple weeks later, will there be a major battle for supremacy or will they still remember that they were brooder-mates just a couple weeks past? They all integrated fine the first time in the brooder, but they were still all "babies" Has anyone else gone through this situation already? Any advice?

Many thanks,

Aslrunner

 

[Judy]

Depending on your climate, you could just move them all outside, even at 3 weeks. They are a lot hardier creatures than people often think. Certainly you can turn the heat lamp off, if there is still one, and begin taking them all on outings during the day, to help get them acclimated. Separating them then reintegrating them will shake up the pecking order; though there is no wa to redict how much.

When I last brooded chicks, they were outdoors from day one, with the temp range around 50 to 75 or so. There was a heat lamp hanging in the middle of their pen which is about 5' x 5'. At 3 weeks, they avoided the heat lamp as much as possible, even at night, sleeping in the far corner, so I turned it off. They did fine.