HI... I'm new to BYC. I joined because it seemed like every time I googled a question about my chicks/chickens BYC was where I ended up with the answer to my question.. Anyway. I have 10 chicks in the brooder in a room off my bedroom.... 6 week old BO and BR. Needless to say, they are about to drive me crazy at night while trying to sleep. Right now I have them in a brooder I built that is 3'x5' and 2' tall. I want to take them outside and keep them in that brooder along with the light and cover the brooder with a tarp until they are old enough to be added with my flock of 5 adult GC. Does this seem like it would be okay for them? I live in SC and the weather has been kind of crazy this year. I was thinking that if I planned to keep them in that brooder until the age to join the big girls I would have to add on to the size of the brooder. How old do they need to be before adding them in the flock? I've heard 16 to 21 weeks.. The sooner I can add them to the flock the better. What's everyone's thoughts on this? Thanks.
Welocme to BYC!!! It is an aweosme forum (the BEST in the world) and has a great comminity!!! Hope you have a great time and learn A LOT!
At 6 weeks old they should be fully feathered or nearly so. Six weeks is the time I turn off the heat lamp and let them go without heat unless I am raising them in wintertime (I give them longer if it is truly cold like in the 10's and 30's). So if you haven't turned the light off, do it now, and then move them to the coop in just a few days with no heat (I would say especially with 10 of them they should be able to snuggle together and keep warmer too). They will be fine at that age: https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html chick care heat tips are here From my experience 16 weeks is the way to go for consolidating flocks (integrating)! The trouble is that if they get cornered they won't stand up for themselves and can be killed/bloodied. I have gotten away with it earlier but then I have also had a bloodied chick once. Another time I saved one just in time as there were a group of 8 or so about to kill it but I swooped in and saved it. So I learned my lesson and try to tell everyone to wait until that magical 16 week timeframe. That is when they start standing up the older chickens and that is what it takes to have a "place" in the pecking order and not just being a victim of bullying but escaping in time. Welcome to BYC!
Hi Glad you could join the flock! I totally agree with ChickensAreSweet that at 6 weeks they should be fully feathered and be off heat unless it's exceptionally cold. I've just moved mine out to a coop and run at six weeks and they are doing fine. When introducing new birds I like the look but don't touch method where they can see each other but are seperated by wire. This way I find they can become aquainted but not harm each other. Adding extra feed and water stations when you do get them together is also advisable so no one can be bullied out. When you do add them together doing it under supervision is best so you can jump in if things get too much as ChickensAreSweet found out. Here is a nice article on adding new members to your flock https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-adding-to-your-flock Good luck and hope you enjoy BYC
Thank you much!! I know the GF will be happy to see me get them out.. They seem to bother her much worse than they do me... I guess because it's my hobby and not hers.. What about the coop???? Do you think that this is big enough or should I add on to it???
Welcome to BYC!! So glad you decided to join us! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!! -Turkenstein25
A 3'x5' brooder is very small for 10 birds at 6 weeks of age. If you can divide your coop into adult and juvenile areas that would be ideal. You do not say how big your coop is, but general recommendations are at least 4 square feet of floor space in the coop per standard sized bird. I generally wait until the youngsters are close to the size of the adult before adding them - around 16 weeks, usually.