What are your older chicks living in?

[Mrs.H]

My 6 chicks are going to be going on 4 weeks old this week. We built them a small wooden house which they lived in for about 2 weeks, they started flying out when I would open the top to feed/water etc, so i moved them into one of those black wire dog kennels ( they are wild and the shavings fly out everywhere!). This is our 1st time with chicks, so really wasnt expecting them to double in size every night. So we have a coop that has 3 older chickens in there so cant put them in there either till they are bigger/fully feathered etc and the way its set up I cant block off a space for them. I just dont know what to do at this point they have room for now, but I know they will not be able to stay in there until they are 8 weeks or so and to ready move in with the older ones. What are your older chicks living in? I need some ideas! Thanks!

 

[Frogchickrincess]

Mrs.H :

My 6 chicks are going to be going on 4 weeks old this week. We built them a small wooden house which they lived in for about 2 weeks, they started flying out when I would open the top to feed/water etc, so i moved them into one of those black wire dog kennels ( they are wild and the shavings fly out everywhere!). This is our 1st time with chicks, so really wasnt expecting them to double in size every night. So we have a coop that has 3 older chickens in there so cant put them in there either till they are bigger/fully feathered etc and the way its set up I cant block off a space for them. I just dont know what to do at this point they have room for now, but I know they will not be able to stay in there until they are 8 weeks or so and to ready move in with the older ones. What are your older chicks living in? I need some ideas! Thanks!

I use Big Rubber maid totes and seperate them, you could pu them in the coop just put something in the coop that they can hide under just in case they need to escape from the big ones.​

 

[Jen71]

Oh - I TOTALLY know how you feel. I had no clue the chicks grow so fast. We had ours in a glass fishtank and I could see that wasn't going to last long.

Now we have a 2x3 box that my father in law built for us and it is working well.

There are lots of great threads on here - search for brooders.

One idea which is fabulous - and cheap - is to get a HUGE cardboard box (like the kind fridges come in). Cut it in half lengthwise and attach the two parts to make a deep, long box. This gives the chicks tons of room to move around and when you're finished, you can throw the box away.
There are quite a few threads here about this, if I find one I will let you know.

Edited to add link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=133494&p=4

Hope this helps.

 

[Mrs.H]

I would love to put them in the coop with a safe place to hide, but then they would go out the pop door and I dont feel like they are big enough to go out into the run.
Yes I did a search but soo many topics showed up LOL so decided to just start another one LOL

 

[Want Less]

I have six 3 week olds (nearly 4 wks) and they've been living in a 60 gallon aquarium. They are about to outgrow it so we'll be moving them out to the pen early and just installing a light in the hen house. We don't have any grown chickens so we won't have to worry about separating anyone.

But yeah... they do seem to double in size over night!

 

[Olive Hill]

Ours have long been kicked out to the coop by that age at night. And during the day they are outside in temporary pens and/or taking free-range lessons in small groups from the "big chickens". I don't see any reason they're too small to go out in the coop/run at this point.

(Edited for clarity.)

 

[bantybev]

You can also add cardboard around the bottom of the dog kennel. I did that with my first chicks with duct tape. I ran it about a foot up the sides and put a piece on the door. It kept the shavings contained pretty well. This time around I used a large washing machine box, cut vertically in half and the two open ends taped together in the middle. I put old window screens on top, but you could make a temporary top with hardware cloth, also. Most appliance stores are glad to give boxes to you. This has lasted pretty well so far with 10 6 week olds in it. It ended up around 8' X 3'.

 

[Mrs.H]

Quote:
Really? Im just always reading not to put them in with older ones until they are fully feathered or the same size, so that what ive been going by b/c im def. not a chicken expert LOL. Im also worried about snakes, we have some big ones here in NC, we have a chain link run with chicken wire around the bottom, snakes can get in, havent seen one yet, but this will be our 1st summer with chickens, and im sure the snakes can get through, I wold think they would go after the little ones.

 

[Mrs.H]

Quote:
I had cardboard around the bottom which was working well, but it wasnt tall enough and they were pecking at it

so I took it off. I need to find big boxes!

 

[Jen71]

Yeah. I think they're too little to be in with the big chickens, but I am not an expert either.

If it was me, I would make a big cardboard box brooder. Keep them safe and warm until they are big enough to cope with "big chicken" life.