Ready for the great outdoors?

[annampet]

I know there are a ton of posts on this kind of thing I'm looking for some guidance due to location and inexperience.

Our chicks are somewhere between 4-5 weeks old and pretty well feathered. I'm in NE MI and the nights are still a little chilly here, high 30's. Daytime ranges from mid 40's to 60's.
I'd really like to get them into the coop, I have a heating plate that I can set up in there. Do you think they would handle it?

Also, we have one hen (about 10 months old) left from our previous flock (weasel got the others), I've been introducing them over the last couple of days. She seems lonely and they've been getting along with the fence between them. I put her in the small fence with the chicks today for about 10 min and observed. There was no real bullying, the hen did peck a little bit but it wasn't aggressive. Is it too early to put them in together?

Thanks for your wisdom!

 

[azygous]

Just the one hen? That shouldn't be a problem. My youngest chicks are just two weeks old and handling 22 adult chickens with smooth grace and high speed ingenuity.

As for the temps, with just a couple nights with the heat plate as a transition device, your chicks will be able to endure those temps standing on their heads. (I'd like to see that.)

As long as chicks have a decent length of time to observe and get to know the behavior of the individual adult chickens, they do remarkably well integrating with them. At four and five weeks, chicks no longer need heat during the day as long as they aren't subjected to chilling drafts.

 

[aart]

I'd really like to get them into the coop, I have a heating plate that I can set up in there. Do you think they would handle it?

They'd be fine with the plate.
Probably best to keep them separated from the 10mo for a week or so,
is your coop big enough to do that?
How many chicks?

 

[annampet]

Thanks for the feedback!
Just the one hen and we have 6 chicks.
The actual coop is big enough for 8-10 adult hens and the run is probably 10 ft x 4 ft with a smaller run off the side where there's another small coop/nesting box area. That side is probably 4 ft x 3 ft and the coop is big enough for 2 - 4 adults...It's one of the Innovation brand coops from TSC and we've built our own similar to the Garden Coop...to give you a visual.

 

[aart]

Thanks for the feedback!
Just the one hen and we have 6 chicks.
The actual coop is big enough for 8-10 adult hens and the run is probably 10 ft x 4 ft with a smaller run off the side where there's another small coop/nesting box area. That side is probably 4 ft x 3 ft and the coop is big enough for 2 - 4 adults...It's one of the Innovation brand coops from TSC and we've built our own similar to the Garden Coop...to give you a visual.

Sounds like a great setup for integration......2 separate coop/run combos sitting next to each other. Could put a tiny door between so chicks can go back and forth but older pullet cannot.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.