Ok, WHEN....

[4H kids and mom]

Ok, so the big chickies are 11 weeks old. The little chickies are 3 weeks and 2 weeks old. They have been seperated by chicken wire the whole time. I have been taking the oldest of the chicks outside and into the coop everyday now for the past week and some to let the big chicks 'meet' them. For the most part, everything has gone pretty well.

Pretty Boy is a little rough with them, but ChickenDuck usually comes over to chase him off. What I am wondering, is WHEN can I stop all this and just put the little bitty ones into the coop with their 'mates'?

I really need the space in the brooder for the Cornish who are now HUGE!

But, I don't want to push the babies in before they can defend themselves. They do kinda run away from Pretty Boy when he goes after them, so maybe they'd be smart enough to hide if I put in something that they could get in or under but the bigger chickies couldn't?

Suggestions?

 

[chickenwoods]

Get some of that welded wire fence, just a small section and put it for a entrence to a space where the chickens can get.
Make sure the welded wire is spaced enough for the litlins to get to but not the big ones. Hope i could help

 

[4H kids and mom]

Well, I didnt have any 2x4 wire handy, so I just cut a small section of the chicken wire out, thats big enough for the little chicks to get through, but too small for the bigger chicks to get through.

I did this about an hour ago, and just went out to check on them all. Several of the little chickies were scratching along in the coop with the bigguns! When one of the bigger chicks got too rough for one, it dashed back to the hole and hid in the brooder. Smart lil chickies!

I'm gonna try this for a few days and see how it goes. I hope it goes well because my Cornish are SO out of room on their half of the brooder!