DISCLAIMER * This is from my own personal experience and how I did it*
Late August 2021 I decided I wanted to expand my flock of 3 before the cold weather hit New Jersey. I decided I was only going to get 2 new chicks and went with a Buff Orpington and an Easter Egger. We bought them home and put them in a brooder.
Our brooder is a large clear plastic tote with a heat lamp, this is that we used when we bought our hens home as babies too and it worked for us. The chicks were about 10 days old when we got them. Because it was warm enough here in the begging of September, at about 2 weeks, we started turning the heat lamp off during the day and only putting it on at night. Doing this also helped them not rely on the heat lamp so much.
I had to start thinking about how I could start integrating them once they got a little more fully feathered. I made some threads and read articles for advice on how I could do it. I have a 4'x5' coop and roughly a 12'x5' run. A lot of people told me my set up was going to be very difficult to integrate new birds in such a small area, but it was what I had and I had to work with what I had. Some people suggested to make a See-no-touch for inside of the coop so that's what we did.
See-no-touch:
At 3 weeks and 4 days old, we moved the chicks from their brooder into the see-no-touch. The hens we had were quite curious the first couple weeks with the chicks being in the coop and would come in the coop just to look at them.
*At about 6 weeks, I let the chicks out of their see-no-touch into the coop, while the hens were free ranging. I was watching them carefully to make sure nothing went wrong. About three days later I did the same thing but with the hens inside of the run. The easter egger again ventured off into the run. I'm not sure exactly what happened as I turned my back for 2 minutes and heard a big squawk coming from the run. I ran to the run and the Easter egger had unfortunately passed away. Now I don't think this was the from the hens, the chick would fly around the the run and I think it flew into one of the support beams inside of the run. I wanted to share this tid-bit because it is very important. I believe I let them out way too early on and should've waited for a couple more weeks.*
I waited a about another week before I even thought about putting the buff orpington into the run. I put up a pallet and an upside down bucket inside of the run so there would be some clutter and so she could hide behind them. I put her in the run and sat outside and watched. There was some normal pecking, squabbling, chasing, everything that would normally happen with integrating new chicks. If things got too rough I would step in. At night the chick would go back into the see no touch. While watching, I tried to let her into the run everyday.
October 19, I decided to let all of the chickens out to free range, chick included. Because the area is much bigger then the run, there was less chasing, pecking and squabbling. I left the run door open and the chick pretty much stayed in the vicinity of the coop/run. I let her free range as much as I could when I was home and able to watch them, but she would go back into the see-no-touch at night. Being able to let her free range really helped with the hens getting used to her. She learned pretty quickly where she could go to hide and get away if she was being pecked.
November 7, at 10 weeks and 4 days, I decided to manually put her on the roost for the night while the hens had already gone to sleep. Chickens can't see very well in the dark so doing this, she would just be there when they got up in the morning. I left the pop door open just incase she needed to get out first thing in the morning. The next morning, the chick was the first one out in the morning and there was only a little pecking.
Every night after that, we just let them work it out as long as there was no blood drawn. She would be manually put on the roost at night and would have the choice of going into the run. We added a second feeder into the run so there was no fighting for food, as for the water, she would peck at the water nipples when the older hens were busy doing something else and they didn't really chase after her when she went to get a drink. She does like staying in the coop during the day but will venture out when she feels like it. I do let them free range when I'm home so they get to stretch their legs.
One thing that we had to deal with in this process:
The chick has learned how to jump onto the roost by herself. The hens have no problems laying eggs in the coop while the chick is in there and they're being pretty nice to one another!
Late August 2021 I decided I wanted to expand my flock of 3 before the cold weather hit New Jersey. I decided I was only going to get 2 new chicks and went with a Buff Orpington and an Easter Egger. We bought them home and put them in a brooder.
Our brooder is a large clear plastic tote with a heat lamp, this is that we used when we bought our hens home as babies too and it worked for us. The chicks were about 10 days old when we got them. Because it was warm enough here in the begging of September, at about 2 weeks, we started turning the heat lamp off during the day and only putting it on at night. Doing this also helped them not rely on the heat lamp so much.
I had to start thinking about how I could start integrating them once they got a little more fully feathered. I made some threads and read articles for advice on how I could do it. I have a 4'x5' coop and roughly a 12'x5' run. A lot of people told me my set up was going to be very difficult to integrate new birds in such a small area, but it was what I had and I had to work with what I had. Some people suggested to make a See-no-touch for inside of the coop so that's what we did.
See-no-touch:
- It had to fit inside of the coop comfortably
- Had to be made with wood and 1/2 galvanized hardware cloth
- This way also helps existing birds get comfortable with the little ones being in the coop and their scent.
- 24"x14" and about 19" tall. They weren't going to be in this very long and the room I had to work with was a factor.
- We used left over wood we had from a different project also
At 3 weeks and 4 days old, we moved the chicks from their brooder into the see-no-touch. The hens we had were quite curious the first couple weeks with the chicks being in the coop and would come in the coop just to look at them.
*At about 6 weeks, I let the chicks out of their see-no-touch into the coop, while the hens were free ranging. I was watching them carefully to make sure nothing went wrong. About three days later I did the same thing but with the hens inside of the run. The easter egger again ventured off into the run. I'm not sure exactly what happened as I turned my back for 2 minutes and heard a big squawk coming from the run. I ran to the run and the Easter egger had unfortunately passed away. Now I don't think this was the from the hens, the chick would fly around the the run and I think it flew into one of the support beams inside of the run. I wanted to share this tid-bit because it is very important. I believe I let them out way too early on and should've waited for a couple more weeks.*
I waited a about another week before I even thought about putting the buff orpington into the run. I put up a pallet and an upside down bucket inside of the run so there would be some clutter and so she could hide behind them. I put her in the run and sat outside and watched. There was some normal pecking, squabbling, chasing, everything that would normally happen with integrating new chicks. If things got too rough I would step in. At night the chick would go back into the see no touch. While watching, I tried to let her into the run everyday.
October 19, I decided to let all of the chickens out to free range, chick included. Because the area is much bigger then the run, there was less chasing, pecking and squabbling. I left the run door open and the chick pretty much stayed in the vicinity of the coop/run. I let her free range as much as I could when I was home and able to watch them, but she would go back into the see-no-touch at night. Being able to let her free range really helped with the hens getting used to her. She learned pretty quickly where she could go to hide and get away if she was being pecked.
November 7, at 10 weeks and 4 days, I decided to manually put her on the roost for the night while the hens had already gone to sleep. Chickens can't see very well in the dark so doing this, she would just be there when they got up in the morning. I left the pop door open just incase she needed to get out first thing in the morning. The next morning, the chick was the first one out in the morning and there was only a little pecking.
Every night after that, we just let them work it out as long as there was no blood drawn. She would be manually put on the roost at night and would have the choice of going into the run. We added a second feeder into the run so there was no fighting for food, as for the water, she would peck at the water nipples when the older hens were busy doing something else and they didn't really chase after her when she went to get a drink. She does like staying in the coop during the day but will venture out when she feels like it. I do let them free range when I'm home so they get to stretch their legs.
One thing that we had to deal with in this process:
- In the beginning of letting her into the run, only one hen pecked at her but she quickly stopped. We then had to deal with 2 bully hens. A lot of people suggested separating the bully hens for a couple days and then letting them back into the flock. I decided to give it a couple days and see what would happen with me not separating them and to my surprise there was less chasing, and pecking. The "bullies" still do peck at the chick but WAY less. And because the chick is bigger now, she knows how to get away from them.
The chick has learned how to jump onto the roost by herself. The hens have no problems laying eggs in the coop while the chick is in there and they're being pretty nice to one another!
