Panicking a bit over travel plans… need expert advice

[Thrilled Chicken Mama]

Brand new chicken mama with 11 chicks - 8 weeks old- and I am wondering if I can leave them for 4 days to travel for Thanksgiving.
The reason I am panicking is because when we bought our new house a few months ago, I inherited 5 adult hens and I have no idea how to leave the chicks separated for that long without them being confined to a fairly small space the whole time.
They have been in the coop and run with them for about 3 weeks but separated in a brooder cage when in the coop and a large dog crate when in the covered run until the last few days. As of the last couple days they have been together with full access to each other, and it finally seems like the adult hens are starting to accept them as part of the flock. Definitely have pecking order stuff going on but no longer seek to be aggressive with them for no reason. But this is only during the day and I am heavily supervising.
I still have to put the chicks back into the brooder cage at night because they do not know to go in on their own to roost at night yet and I don’t have time to solidly get them in that routine before I leave.

So after that long intro, my real question is… will they be ok staying in their brooder cage for 4 days?
I can make sure they have plenty of food and water, but it’s the space I’m worried about. The dimensions of the brooder cage are about 3 feet x 9 feet and the top of it sits about 3 feet high.
It actually seems fairly spacious in there but I am also worried because it is inside the coop. So they will miss out on sunshine and fresh air. (I have an exhaust fan and enough ventilation but they are low and sitting under the shelf so I still worry about it).
Obviously in addition to plenty of food and water, I will leave brand new fresh and dry bedding.

Sorry for the long post but wondering if anyone has any advice… either words of comfort that they will be fine or words of caution of why I should figure something else out for them. Not that I have any idea what that would be right now, other than me staying home lol.
But I am willing to do that before I will put my chicks in harms way.

Thank you for reading this long post!! And for any help you can offer!!

PS… posted a picture that’s not a great one but hopefully lets you see a little of the brooder cage. The chicks are all mostly inside and a couple out since the doors are open and a also a couple of the adult hens checking out what’s been behind those closed doors the last 3 weeks

 

[Squawkers]

I think your setup sounds great. I don’t that is too small for 4 days. My only concern is that the chicks might knock over their feeder or waterer. Is that a possibility with your setup? I do think it would be a good idea to have someone check on them once around day 2 or more if you can. But I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.

 

[Squawkers]

Your coop looks really nice by the way!!!

 

[nuthatched]

Leave them in the coop. Have someone pop by to check on them. Theyll be fine.
Do not cancel family plans for somechickens, they'll be fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Honestly I'd just rush them through the rest of integration. They're already together during the day, so lock up the brooder permanently, and put them into the adult coop at night. They should be able to rehome themselves to the adult coop within a couple of days, even if they don't roost.

It's never taken me longer than a week and a half to get chicks (4 week olds) to coop up with adults.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I basically agree with Rosemarythyme, try to integrate them before you leave. See if you can get it to work. Don't worry about them "roosting" (sleeping on roosts). When I am integrating I don't care where they sleep as long as it is predator safe and not in my nests. In your case since no one is collecting eggs I wouldn't worry too much about nests while you are gone. The eggs may be poopy when you get back but just cook them up and feed them back to the chickens. Then deal with where they are sleeping.

Do you consider your run predator safe? If not, I would not want them to spend the night out there. Do you have an automatic pop door? I'd be concerned about stuff like that more than the danger from the adults as long as your coop is decent sized and the older ones aren't beating them up.

A 3'x9' area isn't that bad for eleven chicks 9 weeks old. You do not get guarantees with living animals so anything can happen but I'd expect them to be OK. No matter which way you go there will be some risks.

I understand it can be challenging but try to find someone that can look in on them at least once and make sure they have food and especially water. Water would be my concern, either spilled or filled with bedding and poop. You might find someone by asking at your church. My wife was friends with the county librarian, she knew somebody perfect. You can call your county extension office if you are in the US, they are usually involved with 4-H and county chicken shows at the fair. They might know someone that lives close and can handle it.

Good luck!

 

[Thrilled Chicken Mama]

Your coop looks really nice by the way!!!

Thank you!

 

[Thrilled Chicken Mama]

Brand new chicken mama with 11 chicks - 8 weeks old- and I am wondering if I can leave them for 4 days to travel for Thanksgiving.
The reason I am panicking is because when we bought our new house a few months ago, I inherited 5 adult hens and I have no idea how to leave the chicks separated for that long without them being confined to a fairly small space the whole time.
They have been in the coop and run with them for about 3 weeks but separated in a brooder cage when in the coop and a large dog crate when in the covered run until the last few days. As of the last couple days they have been together with full access to each other, and it finally seems like the adult hens are starting to accept them as part of the flock. Definitely have pecking order stuff going on but no longer seek to be aggressive with them for no reason. But this is only during the day and I am heavily supervising.
I still have to put the chicks back into the brooder cage at night because they do not know to go in on their own to roost at night yet and I don’t have time to solidly get them in that routine before I leave.

So after that long intro, my real question is… will they be ok staying in their brooder cage for 4 days?
I can make sure they have plenty of food and water, but it’s the space I’m worried about. The dimensions of the brooder cage are about 3 feet x 9 feet and the top of it sits about 3 feet high.
It actually seems fairly spacious in there but I am also worried because it is inside the coop. So they will miss out on sunshine and fresh air. (I have an exhaust fan and enough ventilation but they are low and sitting under the shelf so I still worry about it).
Obviously in addition to plenty of food and water, I will leave brand new fresh and dry bedding.

Sorry for the long post but wondering if anyone has any advice… either words of comfort that they will be fine or words of caution of why I should figure something else out for them. Not that I have any idea what that would be right now, other than me staying home lol.
But I am willing to do that before I will put my chicks in harms way.

Thank you for reading this long post!! And for any help you can offer!!

PS… posted a picture that’s not a great one but hopefully lets you see a little of the brooder cage. The chicks are all mostly inside and a couple out since the doors are open and a also a couple of the adult hens checking out what’s been behind those closed doors the last 3 weeks

Thanks to everyone who responded. Since they had been doing well together during the day the last couple days, I went ahead and followed the advice of just letting them be together tonight. I do have an automatic door and I just set it for a tad later to give the chicks enough time to come in from the run after the big hens, which is exactly what they did!

I left the brooder cage doors open so they could go in and pile up where they have been every night but not be as separated and it went well. I have a camera out there and watched closely until everyone was settled. There was a bit of flying around frantically by 2 or 3 of them for about 5 minutes but then they all started settling and have been sleeping happily in their pile since!
See pics below. It’s a bit hard to see since it’s dark, but I think you can see it well enough to know it was a success!
They will be 8 weeks old on Monday, so I know it could still be a couple weeks before they like to roost at night (or so I have read).
Just glad they knew to leave the run and come into the coop on their own!
Both the coop and run are predator safe but the coop is very much so.
Also, the water and food are in the run and now I am not concerned that they will get to it each day as they need to. I did leave one water container in their brooder cage too, just in case. Poop or bedding cannot get in it.
I still have 3 more days and 2 nights to watch them before we leave too!
Also, I do have someone that can check on them once or twice while I am gone. So I am feeling so much better now! Thanks to everyone for sharing!!

 

[nuthatched]

Thanks to everyone who responded. Since they had been doing well together during the day the last couple days, I went ahead and followed the advice of just letting them be together tonight. I do have an automatic door and I just set it for a tad later to give the chicks enough time to come in from the run after the big hens, which is exactly what they did!

I left the brooder cage doors open so they could go in and pile up where they have been every night but not be as separated and it went well. I have a camera out there and watched closely until everyone was settled. There was a bit of flying around frantically by 2 or 3 of them for about 5 minutes but then they all started settling and have been sleeping happily in their pile since!
See pics below. It’s a bit hard to see since it’s dark, but I think you can see it well enough to know it was a success!
They will be 8 weeks old on Monday, so I know it could still be a couple weeks before they like to roost at night (or so I have read).
Just glad they knew to leave the run and come into the coop on their own!
Both the coop and run are predator safe but the coop is very much so.
Also, the water and food are in the run and now I am not concerned that they will get to it each day as they need to. I did leave one water container in their brooder cage too, just in case. Poop or bedding cannot get in it.
I still have 3 more days and 2 nights to watch them before we leave too!
Also, I do have someone that can check on them once or twice while I am gone. So I am feeling so much better now! Thanks to everyone for sharing!!

They'll be up on the roosts within a week. Mine are integrated by a month and on the low roosts fairly quickly.

 

[Thrilled Chicken Mama]

I basically agree with Rosemarythyme, try to integrate them before you leave. See if you can get it to work. Don't worry about them "roosting" (sleeping on roosts). When I am integrating I don't care where they sleep as long as it is predator safe and not in my nests. In your case since no one is collecting eggs I wouldn't worry too much about nests while you are gone. The eggs may be poopy when you get back but just cook them up and feed them back to the chickens. Then deal with where they are sleeping.

Do you consider your run predator safe? If not, I would not want them to spend the night out there. Do you have an automatic pop door? I'd be concerned about stuff like that more than the danger from the adults as long as your coop is decent sized and the older ones aren't beating them up.

A 3'x9' area isn't that bad for eleven chicks 9 weeks old. You do not get guarantees with living animals so anything can happen but I'd expect them to be OK. No matter which way you go there will be some risks.

I understand it can be challenging but try to find someone that can look in on them at least once and make sure they have food and especially water. Water would be my concern, either spilled or filled with bedding and poop. You might find someone by asking at your church. My wife was friends with the county librarian, she knew somebody perfect. You can call your county extension office if you are in the US, they are usually involved with 4-H and county chicken shows at the fair. They might know someone that lives close and can handle it.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for your reply. I posted an update from this evening as a reply to my original post, so I hope everyone can see it because I am grateful for the advice. Have a wonderful evening