Summer Brooding

[HomesteadDucks]

Last year I raised 13 ducklings, 2 goslings and 2 chicks all together in the same brooder. To put it lightly it was a crowded (for me not them), smelly, nightmare. Not that they didn't get along. They were all good friends. But I do not want to sacrifice that many weeks of my life converting my entire bedroom into a brooder. This year I am going to purchase more chicks and I am wondering if it would be possible to keep them outside with my adult chickens without any brooder. The idea is that if I purchase them in the height of summer (where daytime temperatures reach 90+ degrees) they will stay warm naturally and as autumn rolls in they will experience the gradual drop in temperature like they would in a brooder. Is this plausible? Chickens raise their young outside anyway so I don't see how it would be any different. The only thing I can think of is possibly making them a separate house to sleep at night or maybe a separate enclosure all together so that they don't get trampled. Is that a concern at all?

 

[Sunny-Side Up]

The older ones will bully and even kill the chicks. If you have a hen that hatched the eggs and raised them, that will be fine though. Also, Coccidiosis is worst in warm weather, and the chicks will develop diseases from the adults...

 

[FamilyFarm12]

I have raised my chicks in a brooder in the garage if that helps