Separating chicks for a couple weeks - any potential problems with reintegration?

[Treerooted]

So my chicks are just getting too rowdy and crowded for their brooder and I'd like to move them to the coop. The coop I'll be using isn't complete yet. I have another coop that I can transfer them too but it has no power.

The deets:
This is my first flock
Chicks are 3 weeks old
There are 30 chicks
I split up the chicks and move the largest/most feathered to the coop
After a couple weeks and once everyone's well feathered, they all get moved into the main coop together
fyi I have a runt who is half the size as the others

Why I think this will be ok:
I'll keep 15 chicks in each group, so when they're introduced back together there won't be a small group that could get picked on.
Since it's a new space to everyone, hopefully it will put the chicks on more even ground with one another.

Any reason why this might be a bad idea?

Some pictures in case that helps:

Hopefully that made sense, I'm pretty tired tonight so sorry if I've missed something

 

[PD-Riverman]

So my chicks are just getting too rowdy and crowded for their brooder and I'd like to move them to the coop. The coop I'll be using isn't complete yet. I have another coop that I can transfer them too but it has no power.

The deets:
This is my first flock
Chicks are 3 weeks old
There are 30 chicks
I split up the chicks and move the largest/most feathered to the coop
After a couple weeks and once everyone's well feathered, they all get moved into the main coop together
fyi I have a runt who is half the size as the others

Why I think this will be ok:
I'll keep 15 chicks in each group, so when they're introduced back together there won't be a small group that could get picked on.
Since it's a new space to everyone, hopefully it will put the chicks on more even ground with one another.

Any reason why this might be a bad idea?

Some pictures in case that helps:
View attachment 721120
View attachment 722408
View attachment 722557
Hopefully that made sense, I'm pretty tired tonight so sorry if I've missed something

I have never had a problem putting chicks together around the same age from 2 or 3 different pens.

 

[Treerooted]

I have never had a problem putting chicks together around the same age from 2 or 3 different pens.

Perfect, thanks

 

[azygous]

You should have no problems. Chickens are very good at remembering one another. The brief separation and reunion should not cause any issues.

 

[Treerooted]

Thank you for the reassurance!

I guess I should have also asked if it looked liKe they could go without heat. Cause I think that may be my bigger concern

I know 3-4 weeks may be early, but many are quite feathered out. There's a couple heating pads on the floor of the brooder right now, so they're not under constant heat anyway.

 

[azygous]

Three-week olds don't require any heat during the day unless it's in the low 30s. At night, they may like the MHP for another week or two.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I tend to be more cautious than Azygous. It's not so much that I disagree with her, I don't, but I don't know enough about your coop and how it is ventilated and how good your breeze protection down low is. I generally don't know how you've been feeding them which affects how fast they feather out. What kind of bedding you have and how much it actually cools off at night. Have you acclimated them? You have enough chicks so they can help keep each other warm. There are a lot of variables. Another factor in me being cautious is that a lot of people read these posts, they may not realize the importance of how they may be different than you. So in general I'm pretty cautious.

Having said that, I have seen three day old chicks, two week old chicks, and three week old chicks handle some pretty cool temperatures without problems and without help. I don't know how cool it will get in your part of Ontario the next few weeks but with a decent coop you have a reasonable chance of it working. One passive heating method requiring no heat source other than the chicks is a take-off on a hover. Think of a shallow inverted box, high enough off the coop floor so the chicks can get in and out, but low enough that the chicks body heat is trapped in that box so they can warm up by standing up.

I don't know how big that coop is but they will be 5 weeks old when you reintegrate them. I've seen a two week old chick kill its hatchmate, no integration whatsoever. For some reason it decided it wanted to kill its sibling. I can't give you any guarantees you won't have problems, but with a reasonable amount of space I would not expect any problems when you put them back together.

 

[Treerooted]

@Ridgerunner I completely agree; I didn't add all the particulars because I thought the post would get bogged down.
The transition coop is large and draft free and the bedding in there is currently deep straw. Lowest night temps predicted are 10C (50F). The brooder is in our unheated shop so they've already experienced much colder nights and days. Which may be partly why so many are very feathered out.
Thank you for the passive heat suggestion!

Oh, and as for integration, the coop is 10'x11' so hopefully that should be enough space.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I often bog these threads down with details. But we are all so unique I think the details are important.

I think you will be fine. And yes, that should be plenty of room for that many 5 week old chicks.