I'm very lost

[donteatbees]

Hello! One week ago a bear attacked my coop and killed my mama hen and one chick (and some others, R.I.P.) and none of the other hens took the chicks. They're not broody, so I'm not shocked. I brought them into the house and gave them a safe place to live. I take them out for supervised play time when it's nice out, usually for an hour and a half after work before it starts getting dark.
They're four weeks old today, and Google says wait until 6 weeks to let them out in the coop full time. I'm not sure if I should let them out earlier because their are other hens and they do all sleep together. They seem fine with the chicks. They will go see them and before I come get the chicks they don't mind them perching in their with them. Would they let the chicks go snuggle with them if needed? Or would they hurt the babies? And how do I keep the hens away from the chicks food? They're too little for layer feed, and I don't think they can even get into the hens food, since they need to weigh a certain amount to open it (it's a rat-proof one). If I build a little shelter in the coop for the food would that work? Or would the hens get mad?
I really don't know what to do, I just want what's best for the babies. Please help. Any advice would be appreciated, even if it's not something I mentioned in the post. Thank you all in advance <3

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello again!

I usually don't mix chicks with adults until the chicks are at least 3 months old. At this age they aren't as fragile should an adult attack them and older chicks are just smarter, their immune systems have developed as well. I keep them separated in the coop and run, every body sees, nobody touches for a few weeks. Then I mix them.

When you have a mixed age flock, its best to either feed all of them chick starter, adults included, or feed an All Flock feed, its a great feed for chicks, hens and roosters. That way you don't have to worry chicks are getting too much calcium. Put some oyster shell in a small tub next to the water or feed for the hens.

 

[donteatbees]

Hello again!

I usually don't mix chicks with adults until the chicks are at least 3 months old. At this age they aren't as fragile should an adult attack them and older chicks are just smarter, their immune systems have developed as well. I keep them separated in the coop and run, every body sees, nobody touches for a few weeks. Then I mix them.

When you have a mixed age flock, its best to either feed all of them chick starter, adults included, or feed an All Flock feed, its a great feed for chicks, hens and roosters. That way you don't have to worry chicks are getting too much calcium. Put some oyster shell in a small tub next to the water or feed for the hens.

Thanks for the information! Mine are pretty big already, and are fairly smart. I guess their mama taught them well before the bears got her. I'll keep up with how I'm doing things for now then until they're bigger and smarter. Maybe I can clear out the other part of the coop that's closed off and holds the supplies. They can sleep in that when they are ready since I'm not sure how to make another coop. Ours was there when we moved in from the last owners.

And good to know with the food. They do seem to like the chick starter haha, so I guess it wouldn't be an issue. And good to know with the oyster shells. We put them in the feeder and they just fell out onto the floor and made a mess. I ended up leaving the bag out for them instead. I also feed them their own egg shells. I crush them up so they don't make the connection.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thanks for the information! Mine are pretty big already, and are fairly smart. I guess their mama taught them well before the bears got her. I'll keep up with how I'm doing things for now then until they're bigger and smarter. Maybe I can clear out the other part of the coop that's closed off and holds the supplies. They can sleep in that when they are ready since I'm not sure how to make another coop. Ours was there when we moved in from the last owners.

And good to know with the food. They do seem to like the chick starter haha, so I guess it wouldn't be an issue. And good to know with the oyster shells. We put them in the feeder and they just fell out onto the floor and made a mess. I ended up leaving the bag out for them instead. I also feed them their own egg shells. I crush them up so they don't make the connection.

See how things go, if the adults are used to seeing them around and aren't going to hurt them, then maybe you can leave them out amongst the flock? Judge things by watching. But I'd definitely get them all on chick starter or an all flock feed.

Keep us posted on how it all goes!

 

[donteatbees]

See how things go, if the adults are used to seeing them around and aren't going to hurt them, then maybe you can leave them out amongst the flock? Judge things by watching. But I'd definitely get them all on chick starter or an all flock feed.

Keep us posted on how it all goes!

I'm outside with them right now. The hens mostly ignore them, though they do go stare at them occasionally. I'll bring then in for the night. I'll fill the feeder up with the chick feed when I let them out permanently! The chicks definitely prefer to be outside, which makes sense because they were out here before the bears got there mum.

I'll keep you all posted for sure!

 

[Ridgerunner]

How cold do you get at night? I don't know what criteria that Google articles use, but to me the temperature is what determines how soon you can put a chick outside without heat. A six-week-old chick should be able to handle temperatures down to freezing with little to no acclimation. A four-week-old is a bit harder, somewhat depends on how much they were exposed to cold temperatures and how well it has feathered out. If they were out with the broody I'd probably be OK with temperatures down below 60 Fahrenheit but that's kind of a guess. How cold is it in your house? You can probably turn off any separate heat you provide for them.

I've had two different broody hens wean their chicks at 3-weeks-old. That was in the heat of summer. The hen had spent 3 weeks teaching the others to leave her babies alone. They were fine but had plenty of room to get away from the older ones. I'm not sure how big your coop is but it sounds big enough. It helps a lot to have a lot of room outside.

Do not expect the hens to snuggle the chicks or keep them warm. What happens with mine is that the chicks form a sub-flock and avoid the hens so they don't get pecked. About the time my pullets start to lay they are accepted into the pecking order. Until then they stay apart day and night. It is peaceful as long as they keep their distance.

You can keep the hens out of the chick's food. Build a creep feeder. That's where the chicks can get inside to eat but the hen's can't. It won't hurt the hens if they eat the chicks feed. It can hurt the chicks if they eat the extra calcium in the hen's feed if they eat it over time. By two weeks of age my chicks were flying up to the hen's feeder and eating the Layer feed directly. The solution is to feed all of them the same thing, a low calcium feed suitable for the chicks and offer oyster shell on the side. The ones that need it for their eggshells seem to know it and eat enough while the ones that don't need a lot may take a few bites but won't eat enough to harm themselves.

 

[donteatbees]

How cold do you get at night? I don't know what criteria that Google articles use, but to me the temperature is what determines how soon you can put a chick outside without heat. A six-week-old chick should be able to handle temperatures down to freezing with little to no acclimation. A four-week-old is a bit harder, somewhat depends on how much they were exposed to cold temperatures and how well it has feathered out. If they were out with the broody I'd probably be OK with temperatures down below 60 Fahrenheit but that's kind of a guess. How cold is it in your house? You can probably turn off any separate heat you provide for them.

I've had two different broody hens wean their chicks at 3-weeks-old. That was in the heat of summer. The hen had spent 3 weeks teaching the others to leave her babies alone. They were fine but had plenty of room to get away from the older ones. I'm not sure how big your coop is but it sounds big enough. It helps a lot to have a lot of room outside.

Do not expect the hens to snuggle the chicks or keep them warm. What happens with mine is that the chicks form a sub-flock and avoid the hens so they don't get pecked. About the time my pullets start to lay they are accepted into the pecking order. Until then they stay apart day and night. It is peaceful as long as they keep their distance.

You can keep the hens out of the chick's food. Build a creep feeder. That's where the chicks can get inside to eat but the hen's can't. It won't hurt the hens if they eat the chicks feed. It can hurt the chicks if they eat the extra calcium in the hen's feed if they eat it over time. By two weeks of age my chicks were flying up to the hen's feeder and eating the Layer feed directly. The solution is to feed all of them the same thing, a low calcium feed suitable for the chicks and offer oyster shell on the side. The ones that need it for their eggshells seem to know it and eat enough while the ones that don't need a lot may take a few bites but won't eat enough to harm themselves.

It gets colder than 10°C ( 50°F) at night outside. My house is about 23°C (73.4°F) because I've got a hedgehog. They have no separate heat. It's cooled down a bit since we had the broody (always does May Long) but even then she had them under her at night.

I've got a pretty good sized coop, though I'm not sure of the dimensions. Lots of perches and the chicks definitely stay away from the hens. The hens sit up at the nesting boxes and they stay on the perch alone, which they did with their mum too. I do have one hen that pecked a chick today, but she ran away because she got scared. But she keeps coming over to them. Others look but don't touch. But that might be because I'm here. The chicks hide outside under the fence because there's some gaps from my dog breaking in to eat scraps. They also hide by the main gate because it's got something leaning against it and the hens don't fit. The chicks definitely keep away from the hens. And the hens have lots of room outside and can go out of the pen (dogs keep them safe) but the chicks want to stay covered.

Good to know the hens won't share space with them until they lay eggs. I'll keep bringing them in then. And I'll make the creep feeder too. The chicks haven't figured out the big chicken feeder yet. Just the water.


I've attached images of the chick's so you can see the feather coverage on them. Also one next to a hen to kinda show the size difference.


Thank you!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Those chicks should be fine as far as not needing heat. It sounds like they're already exposed to the hens and getting along without major issue, so if that's the case I'd just leave them with the hens.

 

[realsis]

Cute babies!! Do you find the babies sharing body heat. When they all pile or snuggled together at night. As for your temperature that's pretty darn cold at night so I can't comment. Maybe someone who lives in colder weather can help out with that. My issue is the heat. Put the chicken house and run under three trees for shading and has to go as far as to put a misting system up to help with the heat. So the extreme cold isn't a subject I know much about. Sorry I couldn't help more. Wishing you the best.

 

[donteatbees]

Those chicks should be fine as far as not needing heat. It sounds like they're already exposed to the hens and getting along without major issue, so if that's the case I'd just leave them with the hens.

I let them out and two.of the hens did peck at them. So I think I'll wait a little longer and let them out with supervision. But yeah, they should be good with heating