Well - I did it.

[rosyposyosy]

My 12 wk old chick who is as tall as my banty cochin, but not nearly as wide, free ranged, with my banty cochin, and my EE today. No pecking, except when I went out to check on them.

So. I put Lenore (12 wk old) on the roost with the bigger chickens today. My EE attacked and attacked. So, what I did, was I put Gordita under the nesting boxes, where Lenore's roost is, where a chicken can't get out, or in, without a human, or something with opposable thumbs. The heat lamp is turned off, because when it was on, Fajita (Banty) would slowly edge over to Lenore, and nip at her. For some reason, Fajita also bit me, which is strange, this was the first time I have ever been bit by one of our chickens. Anywho. I'm going back to put the heat lamp on, once it's dark and they are asleep - ish. Right now nothing is going wrong, but I just wanted to check to see if they are sleepy enough, even though there is a light, will they kill each other?

 

[DuckLady]

You really don't need a heat lamp right yet. At three months they should be fully feathered. If you get them acclimated to a heat lamp when it is not even at the freezing level yet, they will not do well when it is really cold. We only ever turn ours on when it is below 20 or 25.
If the lamp is white and it is on all night when they are trying to sleep cooped up, they will pick at each other.
I would only put the new ones in with the older ones int he daytime when they can get away easier. Then as they become used to each other, they will get along better.

This is your forecast for the next few days
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USOR0124.html


Tonight High: 60° Low: 47°
Tomorrow High: 54° Low: 45°
Wednesday High: 54° Low: 43°
Thursday High: 54° Low: 46°
Friday High: 52° Low: 43°

 

[rosyposyosy]

it's room tempature with the heat lamp on. Lenore is 12 wks, and the older chickens are 6 months. They're doing fine, and it's their signal to go to the coop (its on a timer). I had to get the doghouse back out though, since gordita is a little escape artist. Lenore and Fajita are fine, except when gordita is out, since gorditas a little butt head. Is there anything wrong with a heat lamp in the coop? They dont seem to mind, but if its bad for them, I guess I'll have to turn it off.