Poison with sisters?

[PirateGirl]

Can you provide a picture of your existing coop/run? It might help us come up with suggestions on how you can temporarily modify it while the new chicks meet Ivy.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

That is not entirely accurate. We would need to see the setup. Perhaps the brooder is a large dog crate that wouldn't fit through the cleaning hatch on a smaller raised coop or wouldn't fit without removing nest boxes/perches/etc. because the height of the brooder and ceiling height in the coop are similar. I have a home built 4ft x5ft coop, but there's no way I could easily just slip a brooder in there and not compromise the space for the existing bird(s).

Is there a way to introduce the chick(s) to Ivy so that she can see them but not touch them? Even if for a few hours? I once put new birds in a small cat carrier inside the run for several hours so they could all see each other but none of the chickens could harm each other. Perhaps the chick could be supervised on the opposite side of the run fence on short outings so they can get used to seeing each other. Perhaps you can put a temporary divider in the run so they can be near each other for short periods until they get more comfortable with each other.

true, but it sounds like a small pre fab coop. but i could be wrong.