If you’ve been raising baby chicks at home, you probably have a few questions relevant to your sanity, such as, “When can baby chicks go outside?” and, “When should I introduce new chickens to a flock ?”
Heck, I love my chicks and my chickens. But after the third week of dancing around the enormous brooder box in our tiny laundry room I’m ready for those chicks to go to the coop.
If this is your first flock of chicks, moving them out to the coop is a relatively easy process. However, if you already have an existing flock of chickens, there are a few extra steps you need to take to ensure that bullying and aggressive behaviors are kept to a minimum.
When Can Chicks Can Go Outside?
Deciding when chicks can go to outside is kind of a complex question, simply because several factors play into that decision. And you can’t introduce new chickens to a flock until they’re old enough to mix safely.
Many people feel that chicks can go to the coop when they’re six to eight weeks old. However, you have to consider your unique situation, as well as a few other factors, before making that decision.
1. Time of Year
If you’re raising chicks during winter or early spring, chicks will need to be much older before they go to the coop compared to chicks raised in the middle of summer.
During their first week, chicks need an average temperature of 90 to 95 degrees F. You can reduce the temperature by 5 degrees F each week after that.
So, a good rule of thumb is to look at the daytime temperatures. By six weeks, a chick needs an average temperature of 65 degrees F to stay comfortable. If your daytime temperatures are hovering around this mark, your chicks are probably ok to go out to the coop during the day. However, you still might need to bring them inside at night if there is no heating element in the coop.
It’s important to listen to your chicks when you move them to the coop. They will tell you if they’re not comfortable! Chicks that are too cold will huddle together and chirp loudly. Comfortable chicks will explore, rest, and emit soft, contended little chirps.
2. Age and Feathering
Another important factor is the chicks’ age and feathering. At the very least, chicks should have most of their feathers coming in (compared to just having their baby downy fluff) before an introduction. This usually happens when chicks are five to six weeks old. Feathers will help your chicks regulate their body temperature, which is essential when they move outdoors.
In a perfect world, chicks won’t need any supplemental heat when they transition out to the coop. However, we certainly don’t live in a perfect world. Our flock of chicks is currently four weeks old, and they’re in a baby chick coop with our Brinsea EcoGlow heater. And you know what? They’re completely fine.
If you decide to move your chicks into the coop and use a heating element, make sure you can do so safely. Heating lamps have started many barn and coop fires when they fall over or short out. A better option, if you can afford it, is a heating element like the Brinsea. These heating elements cost around $70, so they’re not cheap. However, you’ll save money long-term because they use a fraction of the energy of a heating lamp. And, they’re much safer because there is very little risk of fire.
3. Number of Chicks
How many baby chicks you have in your flock also plays a role in when they can go to the coop. A larger flock of chicks will be able to keep each other warm at night. However, if you just have two or three chicks, they won’t be able to generate as much heat when they huddle together.
This year, we have a flock of 14 chicks, and most nights they sleep in a large huddle in a corner of their brooder coop. Because there are so many of them, they stay toasty all night.
How to Introduce New Chickens to an Existing Flock
Moving your chicks out to the coop is one thing. However, if you have an existing flock then you need to integrate the new members very slowly. If you just let your chicks in with your adult hens, you’re going to have problems. Even sweet and gentle adult hens will peck at and even kill baby chicks.
Before you introduce new chickens to an older flock, many chicken keepers suggest you wait until your chicks are eight to 12 weeks old. At this age, your chicks will be fully feathered and big enough to withstand any bullying behaviors. However, at minimum wait until the chicks are six weeks old before introducing them to the adults.
There are a few different methods you can use to introduce chickens to a new flock. Once your baby chicks are old enough to go outside, you can let them see each other during the day and bring the baby chicks in at night. Or, you could move baby chicks to the coop full time, keeping them separated day and night.
I’ll go over the method I use, which works well for us. Many chicken keepers refer to this method and “Look But Don’t Touch” approach. The Chicken Chick calls it “The Playpen Method.” Whatever you call it, this is a slow approach to introduce new chickens and it can work really well.
1. Make or Buy a Baby Chicken Cage
Your first step to introduce new chickens is to make or buy a chicken coop for the baby chicks. This is a small pen that will house your baby chicks within the coop, chicken, run, or backyard. This allows your adult chickens to see them but not interact with them.
There are many different options for an inexpensive outdoor chicken brooder.
Oneoption is an outdoor collapsible dog pen. I purchased a this small dog pen on Amazon for around $30, and it works great for us. It’s easy to move around the yard, and it collapses when I need to move it into the coop at night. You can also use a dog crate, or even set up a temporary pen using chicken wire and metal stakes.
What’s most important about the outdoor pen is that it’s see-through. You want your adult hens to be able to see the chicks and vice-versa, so that everyone gets used to seeing and hearing each other.
2. Introduce New Chickens Outside During the Day
During the day, the chicks can stay outside in their pen. If your adults hens free range, they’ll frequently come up to the outdoor pen to check out the little newcomers. However, the chicks are completely protected by the fencing.
If your hens are in an enclosed run, they might spend even more time checking out the chicks. This is normal, just make sure the fencing is secure and that the hens can’t fly over to top to get into the chick pen.
Keeping the chicks in an outdoor brooder on warm days allows both groups to get used to each other without being forced to interact. You want to keep the chicks seperated from the adults for a minimum of a week before letting them loose together.
Note: Make sure that you provide your chicks with fresh water and food when they’re in their outdoor brooder.
3. Be On-Hand to Introduce New Chickens
Once you decide that your chicks are ready to join the flock (again, at a minimum of six weeks and ideally at eight to 12 weeks), you need to be on-hand to supervise the introduction.
One method is to let your chicks join the flock in the late afternoon. Adult hens are naturally more docile late in the day because they’re full of food and, as night approaches, they’re more relaxed. You can let the chicks loose in the enclosed run, or let them loose in the coop to meet the hens when they come in for the night.
Waiting late in the day to make introductions can help eliminate any bullying.
4. Secure the Chicks at Night
Now you need to decide if your chicks are going to stay in the coop all night with the adults.
If your coop is big enough, one strategy is to put their outdoor pen inside the coop so that everyone sleeps together yet remains separate. Although the adult hens won’t normally attack chicks during the night (because everyone is sleeping), they could very well go after them early in the morning when they wake up.
This is what we do with our chicks, and so far it has worked out well. The chicks sleep in the coop for several weeks, yet still remain separate from the adults. You can see our setup below.
You can also section off a part of your coop with chicken wire.
Another advantage to letting your chicks sleep separately in the coop from a younger age is that this is how to train chickens to go into the coop at night. After weeks of sleeping in the coop, the chicks will strongly associate the coop with safety and “home.” So once they begin to free range, they’ll naturally want to go into the coop at night.
5. After You Introduce New Chickens, Create Safety Holes
Even with a slow introduction, bullying can still happen. This is why you need to create a “safe room” for your chicks to escape to in the coop or enclosed run.
One sustainable and inexpensive option is to use old cardboard boxes. Cut a hole in the side big enough for your chicks to get through, but small enough so that the adult hens can’t squeeze in. Set up the box in the coop or enclosed run, and make sure every chick knows how to get in and out of the box. To do this, pick up each chick and guide them through the hole.
6. Transition Everyone Over to Starter Feed
Once your chicks are integrated with your flock, you need to transition everyone over to chick feed. Baby chicks can’t handle the extra calcium that’s in layer feed. So, the entire flock needs to eat chick starter until the chicks are 16 to 18 weeks old.
Chick starter won’t harm your adult birds. However, you will need to provide some extra calcium for the adults so they have enough to lay eggs. Set a bowl of crushed oyster shells out near the feeders for them to peck out.
Last Word
Moving chicks to the coop can be a stressful experience, especially when you are also trying to introduce new chickens to an existing flock. However, if you take it slow and use the “look but don’t touch” approach, you’ll minimize bullying and aggression and help ensure that everyone will get along. Or, at least tolerate each other.
During this transition, it’s important that you keep an eye on the flock to make sure that the chicks are kept safe, especially in the first few days of total integration.
If your chickens free range, you also need to make sure that your chicks are able to find their way into the coop in the evening. Letting them sleep caged in the coop for several ways is a great way to train chickens to go into the coop at night, but they can still get lost in the yard. So, do a head count in the early evening to make sure everyone made it in alright.
If you’re raising chicks in the heat of summer, make sure you take steps to keep your chickens cool in extreme heat. Chicks can be especially vulnerable to high temperatures, so install a fan and keep plenty of fresh, cool water out for your flock.