Moving to coop at 2 weeks

[gregblackburn]

I fear my chicks have outgrown my brooder and I don't have any great options for a bigger brooder. Is it okay to move them to the coop already, but just keep their heat lamp in the coop? I think they would be much happier with more space!

 

[Dmontgomery]

What do you have in the coop now? At just 2 weeks they need protection from any bigger chickens. If you have other chickens in there already, you would be wise to wall off a section with wire so the little ones don't get hurt.

 

[gregblackburn]

What do you have in the coop now? At just 2 weeks they need protection from any bigger chickens. If you have other chickens in there already, you would be wise to wall off a section with wire so the little ones don't get hurt.

There is nothing in the coop right now.

 

[Dmontgomery]

Good. Make sure the heat lamp is VERY secure and they should be fine. What are you using for a brooder?

 

[gregblackburn]

It's basically a steel tub that is probably 24" in diameter and a foot tall. I have chicken wire on top so they can't get out but they seem crowded. This is my first time raising chickens so I wasn't sure what to get when I set up the brooder.

 

[Dmontgomery]

How big is the coop? You probably don't want to turn them loose in a barn, they might get lost. If you're new to chickens you will soon learn they are not the brightest animals God made.

 

[gregblackburn]

How big is the coop? You probably don't want to turn them loose in a barn, they might get lost. If you're new to chickens you will soon learn they are not the brightest animals God made.

Haha it's about 48" x 48" so I thought that might be okay.

 

[Dmontgomery]

Yep. They should be fine. Probably wait another week or so before letting them out in the run, depending on your climate. Good luck.

 

[gregblackburn]

Yep. They should be fine. Probably wait another week or so before letting them out in the run, depending on your climate. Good luck.

Thanks!

 

[xcalibor67]

I did exactly what your doing. I had my existing coop/run with about 9 birds already there. they were about 2/3 months old and i didnt want them to hurt the new chicks, so i quickly framed up a 3'-4' section on one end of the coop using a few 2x4's and hardware clothe.. turns out, even the bigger chicks still liked the heat source and would lay beside the small ones on the outside. I also feel it really helped when it came time to integrate the younger ones into the flock, as they had seen each other for a while.