Moving to the coop at different times?

[jenkassai]

I think my oldest chicks will be ready to go out to their coop by the time we are finished with the renovation and run. We are not having electric in the coop, so no way to do a heater (I have an Ecoglow). I started thinking today that *maybe* I could have everyone outside during the day, and then bring the three youngest ones in overnight to sleep in the brooder, leaving the big girls to sleep in the coop. I think the days are warm enough for the youngest ones now, it is routinely reaching mid to upper 70's and higher. I don't like the idea of separating them until the youngest can sleep in the coop because I worry about integration issues. Does anyone think my plan would work? Or would there still be integration issues, every day, because I'd be removing the youngest chicks in the evening and putting them back out in the morning? I don't want to leave everyone in the brooder until they are all old enough for the coop because the brooder is big, but I think will be too small to house everyone comfortably until then. I only designed it for 7 chicks and now I have 10...go figure

Thx!

 

[gritsar]

How old are the youngest ones? How big is the coop? What are your nighttime temps. like?

Sorry to answer your ? with questions, but it makes a difference. You may be able to have them all in the coop, all the time.

 

[jenkassai]

The 3 youngest are only 1 week old right now. The nighttime temps are varying, but usually no lower than somewhere around low 60's. The coop is 16 x 8.

Thx!

 

[jenkassai]

I just realized - sounds like I want to put 1 week olds outside all day!!! Not so! The coop won't be ready for another two weeks probably, at which point the day time temps should be into the 80's

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
At 3 weeks old, with those temps., they should be able to handle a draft-free coop just fine.

 

[kemclaughlin]

I moved mine out a little early because I did not want to have integration issues. I put the littlest ones in the coop first, then after a while I added the bigger ones. We have not had any issues. It was pretty chilly until about 2 weeks ago and they have been out there at least a month. They are all doing great and everyone is getting enough to eat.