New member! Integrating chickens

[Dawng97]

Hi everyone! I am new to owning chickens and I absolutely fell in love with my chickens. They have such great personalities! Who knew! Anyway I currently have 2 easter eggers and 2 golden comets that are about 7 weeks old. They have just been moved outside to a coop and run. They will free range once they are a little older. They are all pullets. I also have 6 straight run silkies that are 3 weeks old currently in a brooder in my living room. They seem extra tiny for silkies and are taking forever to grow! Once it's a bit warmer outside and they are a little bigger I want to start introducing them to my outside girls in a separate run so they start getting used to each other, but understand they still need to stay inside for quiet some more time. Does anyone have any ideas on how to successfully integrate them?

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC!. Glad you joined.
Where in the world are you located?
Do you have power in your coop and is it large enough to section off to brood the silkies in there? Having the little littles with the bigger littles to get to know each other now will help greatly with the integration.
I have 13 10-day old and 3 3-day old chicks in my built in brooder in the coop. The hens and rooster can see them and vice versa. I will begin integration in about 4 weeks.

 

[Dawng97]

Hello and welcome to BYC!. Glad you joined.
Where in the world are you located?
Do you have power in your coop and is it large enough to section off to brood the silkies in there? Having the little littles with the bigger littles to get to know each other now will help greatly with the integration.
I have 13 10-day old and 3 3-day old chicks in my built in brooder in the coop. The hens and rooster can see them and vice versa. I will begin integration in about 4 weeks.

 

[Dawng97]

Hi! Thanks I love this site and app! I can put power in the coop but I am in New Jersey. Northwest NJ and it still dips into the low 40's here at night. Daytime are averaging in the 50's. Today it is in the high 70's but will go down to 39 at night (welcome to the mountains of new jersey lol) when it hits its peak I was going to start introducing through the fence for an hour at the most. I know they need to be in the high 80's for temperature right now. So as often as I could I want to show each other themselves to help make it easier. My silkie chicks are very very tiny. I had no idea how small they actually were! They are a quarter of my older chicks size at this age. Thank you so much for your response! I just do not want to do anything wrong that ends up hurting any of them.

 

[DobieLover]

Hi! Thanks I love this site and app! I can put power in the coop but I am in New Jersey. Northwest NJ and it still dips into the low 40's here at night. Daytime are averaging in the 50's. Today it is in the high 70's but will go down to 39 at night (welcome to the mountains of new jersey lol) when it hits its peak I was going to start introducing through the fence for an hour at the most. I know they need to be in the high 80's for temperature right now. So as often as I could I want to show each other themselves to help make it easier. My silkie chicks are very very tiny. I had no idea how small they actually were! They are a quarter of my older chicks size at this age. Thank you so much for your response! I just do not want to do anything wrong that ends up hurting any of them.

My one week olds in the built in brooder in the coop. The towel is covering my brooder plate.
When I took this picture, the ambient temperature outside the plate was 28F. Chicks running around like little maniacs.
Not shown on the left side of this picture is the coop for the adult flock.

Below is their view of the shenanigans in the brooder.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Dawng97.
Welcome to BYC.
Who knew? Most of us here.

 

[Dawng97]

 

[aart]

If the silkies are bantams, might be hard to mix with large fowl birds.
Best to integrate sooner rather than later.

Your idea of day trips outside is a good one, just make sure they have shade and wind blocks.

More info about your coop and run, dimensions and pics, may garner more specific suggestions.

Oh, and...Welcome to BYC! @Dawng97
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Mrs. K]

Tipping a plastic tote on its side, makes a great huddle box. Have the back to the prevailing wind, some bedding and the front in the sun, and those chicks would last much longer outside.

Outside is good for the inside of chicks. They are healthier. While they need to be able to warm up, they do not need to be kept at 80 degrees constantly. If they have adequate food, they produce quite a bit of heat. If protected from the wind, they will be fine in 50 degree sunshine.

It is fun to have the chicks in the house or very close to the house at first, but it is more for people than for chicks. Do a couple of hours the first day of the week-end, more hours the next day, and then get them out there full time.

The sooner the better.

Mrs K

 

[Dawng97]

Thank you guys! I am from northern Jersey so it still gets chilly outside. I have been putting a pen next to my coop so they can see each other. My older ones still peep but when the little ones are out one is making normal chicken noises almost like a low purr ish noise. Is that a good sign or is that like a dog growl lol!