Placing chicks in coop with older chickens.

[charles2213]

I have two questions I am hopping y'all can help me with. The first one is at what age should I move my chicks outside to the coop with other chickens? The other is How old do chicks need to be befor I can remove the brooder light? they are currently being kept in the house at a constant 73 degrees.

 

[William1hens]

You should move the chicks outside when they're about 6-10 weeks old
(depending on the breed,size and the weather).You should take the lamp away when they are fully feathered.
Good luck

 

[charles2213]

Ok thank you for your help

 

[ThePRfan]

At
Least 6 or 5 months.After this age they probably can defend themselves,and no heat lamp.
1,3,and2, months is very young,plus,their going threw series of soft molts.

 

[azygous]

How old are your chicks? That's the first criteria. They should be no younger than five-weeks and fully feathered, but a 'panic room" is an almost necessity for them to retreat to for safety.

Have they been introduced to the adult flock yet? This is a very important step. Many of us let our young chicks spend some part of the day, when the weather is mild, out in the run in a "playpen", protected from the older chickens. This way everyone gets to know each other in perfect safety.

Around four weeks, you can open 5"x7" portals in the playpen so the chicks can explore the main run. It's very important that you make sure there are no dead ends or corners where a chick can get trapped and not be able to run away from a big hen. They learn quickly to scoot back into their playpen/panic room for safety.

Putting them in the coop with the adults is a pretty stressful operation, but you can pull it off when the chicks are between six and eight weeks old. It amounts to placing them in the coop as soon as all the hens have finished laying for the day.

If you decide to merge chicks of this age, it's critical to have a "panic room" for them to retreat to in the run. You can create this panic room out of any corner of the run, but to try to merge smaller chicks without it would be very risky.

 

[charles2213]

They are just a few days old right now. I just didn't want to miss that window of opertunity. As for a panic room I have a 12x12 coop with a 6 x 6 area for the little ones so they can go and come as they need to.

 

[ThePRfan]

They are extremely too young.
They may not know to run to their hiding place.
Id wait until they reach atleast 4 months,1extra minth makes a big difference.

 

[William1hens]

They are extremely too young.
They may not know to run to their hiding place.
Id wait until they reach atleast 4 months,1extra minth makes a big difference.

If you leave it until they're 4 months,in my experience,the older hens see them as a threat and pick on the new hens.I find 8 weeks is a good age because they are old enough to run away from the bullies and are small so the other hens don't mind them being around

 

[azygous]

Oh, they will know to run into the panic room all right! You should see the tiny tykes zipping around the run at warp speed, faster than any adult. It's a hoot! When they first venture out of their safe enclosure, they stay very close at first, and run back in at the first experience of adult displeasure. And did I mention they're FAST?

They are more likely to be easily accepted into the flock being introduced early as chicks. I' ve successfully merged four batches of chicks in this manner beginning at two weeks, weather permitting. When I move them into the coop at six weeks, they know the drill and continue to use the panic room until they no longer fit through the portals. Until you've tried it or watched someone's chicks who have this set-up, you can't accurately say it can't work.

It's far easier for chicks to be accepted into the pecking order than it is for four-month olds who are facing the adult flock for the first time. As long as chicks have plenty of space to elude the adults and safe areas to retreat to, they do exceptionally well.

 

[ThePRfan]

From my experience its much harder.
We all have different experience,XD.But,I accept everyone s answer.

I tried intergrating 3 minths old.It also depends on the way you intintroduce them.
The time I tried introducing chicks,they were chased,pecked,and kick.

I never just threw mines in with them.I let them free range,and eat treats together.After about 5days they could be together.