WHAT DO I DO??

[chickens 4 ever]

Hi! So I have baby chicks. They are like a month or so old. Their names are Mocha and Brownie
I have 2 older chickens. And here is the situation. My older chickens have a huge coop and I can't buy another coop for my little ones. And I know that my older chickens will kill my younger chicks if i put them in their. What are tricks to getting my chickens to like my little chicks. Or get used to them? PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[WinklerFarms]

You will have to wait until your chicks are bigger, and when they are put them in a dog crate inside the coop for a couple weeks.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

Well actually we don't have a dog crate. And where would I put my chicks while they grow? I can't just keep them in a box.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can partition off the coop so that the younger ones are separated from the older ones by some chicken wire. Keep food and water separate...you can even partition off the run, too.

The younger ones should be close in size to the older ones before you integrate, ideally (usually around 4 months of age but I have gotten away with it earlier than this- depends on the personalities of the hens).

Worst case scenario- put your older OR younger hens in a dog crate inside the coop at night to keep them from killing them. Then put them into separate runs during the day (you would have to carry them to their run).

Make sure they have shade/rain/wind protection in a run that you create for them for daytime if you do this. You can just make a little circle of fencing with some netting over the top and presto (with food and water inside). (This would not be very predator-proof but hey, I've done it and gotten away with it many times as a grow-out pen.)

 

[amillecay]

I don't know what your money buget is but I would take a look at craigslist i have found cheap stuff on there pretty often that would work, from a big dog crate to a small coop and run.

 

[WinklerFarms]

To be honest this should have been thought about BEFORE you got the chicks. But either way there are a lot of options and it would be cheap to partition your coop with some chicken wire. Good luck

 

[Indigosands]

You're right, at 4 weeks old they'll hurt them but by 12 weeks or so they should be ok to join the other two. What I did with my younger group is took a old little tikes kid's playhouse and turned it into a grow out coop and placed it right next to my coop so they could see and hear each other. I bet you could easily find one of these playhouses for free or cheap on craigslist.

 

[chickens 4 ever]

To be honest this should have been thought about BEFORE you got the chicks. But either way there are a lot of options and it would be cheap to partition your coop with some chicken wire. Good luck

My mom surprised me with them, so I didn't know

 

[chickens 4 ever]

You're right, at 4 weeks old they'll hurt them but by 12 weeks or so they should be ok to join the other two. What I did with my younger group is took a old little tikes kid's playhouse and turned it into a grow out coop and placed it right next to my coop so they could see and hear each other. I bet you could easily find one of these playhouses for free or cheap on craigslist.

Good idea. But I don't have a big budget....

 

[dukeis111]

if its the pecking your worrying about, there is this stuff called peck no more, and you give it to the little chicks, and when the older ones peck on them, it tastes bitter, so they stop doing it, and it will take a little while for them to get used to them or you can just buy what I said, and there is another thing called hot pick and does the same thing. hope this is helpful!