One month brood along / integrate along - from feed store to coop

[rosemarythyme]

4/10 Second outing. Chicks are 14 and 21 days old. 58F and dry.

Chicks had 30 minutes to explore yesterday. Today I upped it to 1 hour, then tacked on an additional 4 hours of "outside" time by putting up a temporary (very janky) chicken wire surround around the brooder, so I could leave the brooder open without supervision.

I did try to skip ahead to the panic door stage but the chicks were struggling a bit to figure out how to get back in the brooder from being out and about, so this gave them lots of practice coming in and out, and let them see the adults more clearly and vice versa.

Assuming weather stays dry tomorrow, they'll get about 7 hours with an open brooder, and then the chicken wire will be removed the following day.

 

[Rick&Chris]

"Now." The littles are getting to the age where they're almost too big to take advantage of their size, which is what allows me to get away with throwing them together so early.

How many birds do you have in each age group (bigs and littles) and how much space are you working with in the run? I see a bit of clutter but you might find it advantageous to temporarily clutter up more, if you have space for it.

Since you have the mini coop/run set up inside the run, what I would consider doing if possible, is elevate the mini coop/run on bricks or pavers, so the littles can run under there for safety if needed, but can otherwise come out and interact with the bigs. At 8 weeks you're looking at maybe 2 bricks high - you want gap big enough for chicks to come out but small enough that adults won't get in (which is why this works best when they're tiny).

I unfortunately don't have photos for that, but to illustrate, imagine the chicken wire here is sitting on top of the bricks at the border of the wire. It'd be enough to let these chicks dart in and out, but would keep adults out.
View attachment 3797742

Got it!! Thank you, I'll do that today! Is it OK for them to go out into the fenced yard, outside of the run, or should I keep everyone in for now? My covered run is roughly 8x18. I have six 6 year old hens and a 2 year old rooster, there are four littles. The littles don't come when called like the big ones do.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Got it!! Thank you, I'll do that today! Is it OK for them to go out into the fenced yard, outside of the run, or should I keep everyone in for now? My covered run is roughly 8x18. I have six 6 year old hens and a 2 year old rooster, there are four littles. The littles don't come when called like the big ones do.

Right now I would not free range the littles - they're snack sized and the lack of recall is an issue for me. I know some folks just jump right into it but I don't trust them coming back without something to help reel them back in (i.e. once they trust the adults enough to follow them around, they'll also come back from free ranging with them).

I start giving them the option of going out around 8-10 weeks (I simply leave the run door open and they'll venture forth when they want), but that means they've already been living side by side with the flock for a solid month before that.

 

[rosemarythyme]

4/11 Names! And panic openings. Chicks are 15 and 22 days old. 54F and dry.

Our tradition is to name chicks after 2 weeks, so the "F crew" now has names: Floof the Blue Marans, Flair the Crevecoeur, Florentine the Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Flan the Barnevelder.

So, I lied about waiting an extra day to remove the chicken wire. I gave the chicks another half-hour this morning with the chicken wire enclosure, then added my tried-and-true wire shelf across the mouth of the brooder to create chick sized panic openings. After herding the chicks in and out of there, I was pretty sure the chicks had gotten the hang of it, so now the chicken wire is gone and the babies have full access to the entire set up.

I checked on them throughout the day and had the window cracked open so I could hear any panicky chirps, but there didn't seem to be any major issues. Set up will remain like this for about another 2 weeks, and then the brooder will be closed for business.

Shut the chicks in the brooder around 6:30 PM, but I'll wait until sunset tomorrow so I can see if the babies properly return to and stay in the brooder at dusk.

 

[rosemarythyme]

4/12 All's well for now.

Mini update: Chicks had no issue being given access to the run from 9 AM to sundown, and put themselves to bed without a problem. Unless something comes up, this will be status quo for the next 2 weeks, roughly.

I still have adults on fermented grower (plus dry all flock crumble instead of layer pellets) but with the chicks starting to pick at the food bowls I'll be swapping to fermented starter + all flock in a day or two.

And just for funsies:

 

[Rick&Chris]

Right now I would not free range the littles - they're snack sized and the lack of recall is an issue for me. I know some folks just jump right into it but I don't trust them coming back without something to help reel them back in (i.e. once they trust the adults enough to follow them around, they'll also come back from free ranging with them).

I start giving them the option of going out around 8-10 weeks (I simply leave the run door open and they'll venture forth when they want), but that means they've already been living side by side with the flock for a solid month before that.

I have been letting them integrate and luckily they seem to be fine. The adults are enjoying the chick starter/grower food (LOL) and that seems to distract them from paying any attention to the babies. I did pick up the baby food yesterday and the adults went out into the fenced yard (it's not truly free ranging as the fenced area is roughly 50'x30' with three huge bushes for cover. I left the run door open and the next thing you know, 3 of the littles went out of the run and into the fenced yard. They were fine, I was panicked LOL. I managed to get them back into the run (whew!). I won't do that again without full supervision. Littles are 7 and 9 weeks old now.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have been letting them integrate and luckily they seem to be fine. The adults are enjoying the chick starter/grower food (LOL) and that seems to distract them from paying any attention to the babies. I did pick up the baby food yesterday and the adults went out into the fenced yard (it's not truly free ranging as the fenced area is roughly 50'x30' with three huge bushes for cover. I left the run door open and the next thing you know, 3 of the littles went out of the run and into the fenced yard. They were fine, I was panicked LOL. I managed to get them back into the run (whew!). I won't do that again without full supervision. Littles are 7 and 9 weeks old now.

Good point about the food, first thing I do is bring out food in the morning (and I now have fermented starter for their breakfast, which the adults enjoy) and then I let the chicks out in the run, so the adults have their heads in food bowls by the time the little ones are starting to zoom around for the morning.

I already had a few chicks squirt out the run door, but thankfully a bit of hand waving is all that's needed at the moment to turn them around. Once they're "big enough" for my liking I'll start to leave the run open during free range time, and it'll be up to the littles to decide when they want to start venturing out. They're usually hesitant at first but that's probably for the best, as it helps orient them to the layout of the yard (which is unfenced).

 

[rosemarythyme]

4/22 Lowered temps, higher ground. Chicks are 27 and 34 days old. 62F and dry.

A little under a week to go before they get booted from the brooder, though with the weather report showing multiple days with rainfall I might delay it by a few days. Regardless, I lowered the temperature of the heating pad in anticipation of the move out.

Chicks have found the jungle gym, a tried-and-true favorite of every batch of chicks I've gotten. The adults are generally too lazy to go up there so the chicks can just hang around, and since it elevates them off the ground it makes them spook less in my presence. Once they're locked out of the brooder the waterer will be moved up to here. Food, they'll have to learn to eat from the various bowls sitting around when the hens aren't looking.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

How's everything? I bet they're twice as big. Is Floof getting a nice set of feathery foot? Weather was SO lovely last week here, now back to rain. Which makes me think about Coccidiosis all the time. But so far they seem fine so I have not broken out the Corid. What do you do? Do you ever give to you chicks as "preventative," or do you use just to treat it (if you've ever had to.) Mine are 9-10 weeks now, temp fencing between them and bigs but they'll have a meet and greet this weekend even though it'll be a soggy one.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How's everything? I bet they're twice as big. Is Floof getting a nice set of feathery foot?

Flan is still a bit runty so definitely smallest of the four. Floof is close to catching up to Flair and yes, she has feathery little legs.

Weather was SO lovely last week here, now back to rain. Which makes me think about Coccidiosis all the time. But so far they seem fine so I have not broken out the Corid. What do you do? Do you ever give to you chicks as "preventative," or do you use just to treat it (if you've ever had to.)

I don't use medicated feed. I do have a bottle of Corid on hand, just in case. But I've not had to treat for coccidiosis ever since I began brooding outdoors, which is why I'm a big fan of early exposure, so they gradually get low doses of pathogens.

Mine are 9-10 weeks now, temp fencing between them and bigs but they'll have a meet and greet this weekend even though it'll be a soggy one.

Soggy here too! It's throwing off my final integration step haha.

So going with my usual timeline they'd be moving into the coop tonight as that's 4 weeks at my house, however forecast is showers and rain through next Tuesday, so depending on how the weather shakes out, they'll be booted from the brooder on either Sunday night (when it's more convenient for me to start rounding them up) or Tuesday (when rain should taper off).