My fourteen big kids (nine weeks old today) moved out to their newly finished coop tonight, as their fat, feathery butts were seriously overcrowding their dog pen, and they were stinking up the garage. Consternation ensued at first until we threw some alfalfa to them, which made them very happy. I hung around for a while until they seemed comfortable, then shut off the overhead lights and left, as my presence tends to make them think, "hey, Mom is visiting - cool," which isn't exactly conducive to settling down for the night. They have a decorative solar-powered LED light rope strung around the ceiling which provides dim light so that they aren't in total darkness yet. With my luck, they're out there holding a midnight pullet rave.
I also integrated my two younger groups into a single batch, which makes me quite happy, as now there will only need to be one big coop integration, not two. The littles and the not-quite-so-littles have been living side by side in clear tote brooders for two weeks now, and apparently are quite used to the sight and sound of one another. They kept getting into one anothers' brooders when I cleaned up or changed food and water, and nothing ever happened other than the babies trying to jam themselves under the bewildered older chicks, so I said "the heck with it" and put them all in one big box. They all stared at one another for a while, and then went about their business, so it went well. I think the Sussex chicks were actually more afraid of the babies than the other way around. I just checked on them, and everybody is sleeping nicely, so it's all good.
I also integrated my two younger groups into a single batch, which makes me quite happy, as now there will only need to be one big coop integration, not two. The littles and the not-quite-so-littles have been living side by side in clear tote brooders for two weeks now, and apparently are quite used to the sight and sound of one another. They kept getting into one anothers' brooders when I cleaned up or changed food and water, and nothing ever happened other than the babies trying to jam themselves under the bewildered older chicks, so I said "the heck with it" and put them all in one big box. They all stared at one another for a while, and then went about their business, so it went well. I think the Sussex chicks were actually more afraid of the babies than the other way around. I just checked on them, and everybody is sleeping nicely, so it's all good.
