Bringing your chicks outside for the first time and introducing them to the older ladies.
When should you bring the babies outside? How do I integrate the new chickens with the existing flock? This is what I will be covering today.
I typically wait to bring the babies out when they are at least a week to 2 week old. The biggest deciding factor is the temp needs to be at least in the upper 70 degrees Fahrenheit or 24 degrees Celsius and in an area with direct sun and shade option. I always lay a blanket out for home base. If you observe a mother hen, she will let the babies learn and explore but she’ll always bring them back in for a nap and to get re centered.
Sit on the blanket with the chicks on your lap and then just let them hop off. They will stick around the blanket and start to peck around. I will let them do this for about 15 minutes and then bring them back into fold, herd them in with your out stretched arms. They will come back in and settle down to take a nap. It’s a pretty nice feeling when chicks feel safe in your lap.
I love watching the babies explore, you can see their personalities start to come out. It’s so crazy to see them naturally play keep away, it’s just rooted deep in the chicken genes.
Introducing them to the established flock.
When I think of working with the chicks and chickens I think of what would a mother hen do? She would naturally bring them out for an outing, bits at a time. Getting closer and closer to the flock, the older ladies will just get used to their presence.
I start out by leaving the older ladies in the run area. I read their body language….. are they pacing, are they bocking excitedly? If the answer is yes, you’ll need to do this until the older ladies are comfortable and their body language calms down.
If the answer is no, them you can let them out…. 🙂 Have the chicks in the yard and not right up to the run door. Closely monitor the situation and do it for as long as the babies are able too. I would say about 30 min or the amount of time you have. You need to think about both the chicks and older ladies. Click the link below to see how this first time went for us. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwr8_UNHs7A/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
They will eventually scratch around each other and preen themselves together, you know they are comfortable around each other at that point.
Pretty soon it’ll be so normal to be around each other and the integration will be easy. Keep the babies living separate from the older ladies until about 1.5 to 2 months. From the time the babies are old enough to be able to go in the run and coop….. slowly start to feed them treats in the same area.
When the chicks have their big girl feathers, they are start to sleep in the coop. Such a big step. That will be the next post….. stay tuned.
Love, Nicolette
