Coop within a coop for chicks

[johhid]

Hello,

I am a relatively new chicken owner and currently have 5 golden comets living in a pretty large coop (converted from a shed) that can easily house about 15- 20 birds. I currently have 4 new chicks about 4 weeks old in a brooder inside the house and they will be fully feathered and ready for the coop in another 1.5-2 weeks. My plan is to create a smaller chicken coop within the current one where the new chicks can get used to the older birds and can stay in there for a few weeks until they get bigger and begin to mingle with the current flock. Has anybody had any experience doing something like this and how did it work for you? Will the older birds get agitated even though they can only see each other and not interact? They will have their own food, water, roosting bar etc..

Thanks!

 

[Aapomp831]

It will work, and the older hens will just have to deal. The whole idea is to get used to each other. My older hens are so used to me bringing on chicks they just look up and roll their eyes now. They couldn’t care less.

 

[Sally PB]

I'll be doing the same thing in a few weeks. Hoping both our integrations go well!

 

[kerbotx]

I've done exactly that with my coop, and it works great. Originally a 16x16 shed, one half is used as a coop for the main flock. The other half is divided into 2 sections, a brooder pen with wire walls for chicks and an ICU/whatever pen with its own small run attached. For a time, I made do with a brooder pen underneath the poop board; it was big enough, I just got tired of cleaning at weird angles, and I had so much room anyway - lumber was cheaper then! It's just really nice to have everybody in one building, all the supplies, etc.

 

[demonic]

Hello,

I am a relatively new chicken owner and currently have 5 golden comets living in a pretty large coop (converted from a shed) that can easily house about 15- 20 birds. I currently have 4 new chicks about 4 weeks old in a brooder inside the house and they will be fully feathered and ready for the coop in another 1.5-2 weeks. My plan is to create a smaller chicken coop within the current one where the new chicks can get used to the older birds and can stay in there for a few weeks until they get bigger and begin to mingle with the current flock. Has anybody had any experience doing something like this and how did it work for you? Will the older birds get agitated even though they can only see each other and not interact? They will have their own food, water, roosting bar etc..

Thanks!

It’ll work fine, you can sprinkle some treats next to both of them so they can know what it’s like to eat with each other. I’m going to do the same thing in a week or 2 with some ISA brown chicks

 

[blackdog043]

@aart has good info for integration!
Here's my article on integrating chicks. Next time raise them in the coop!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-coop-brooder-and-integration.74591/

 

[aart]

Works great here, wish I could have made the section larger for easier access for me.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/