Beaks · flock integration
Raise chicks and fold them into a laying flock
From feed-store chicks to sharing a roost with adult hens — brooder setup, weekly heat drops, a grow-out pen, then a dusk introduction. Built for a household that already has layers.
About 14 weeks from arrival
Set the dates
Tell us when they arrive and how many you are adding. We pin every step to the calendar.
What the plan covers
Set a date above to pin these to the calendar. Until then, here is the sequence.
Prepare · 14 days before arrival
Build the brooder before you buy
Chicks cannot wait in a cardboard box overnight. The brooder should be ready a week or more before the feed-store run.
Prepare · 7 days before arrival
Stock starter, water, and a thermometer
Buy the unglamorous kit now so arrival day is just dipping beaks, not a hardware-store panic.
Prepare · 1 days before arrival
Preheat the brooder the night before
Target about 95°F at chick level for week one if you use a lamp. Heat plates warm the chicks, not the whole air — they should be able to nap under it and walk out to eat.
Brooder · arrival day
Arrival day — water first, then food
Feed-store chicks are usually a day or three old. They are tired, thirsty, and loud. Slow is kinder than a big reveal to the hens.
Brooder · day 3
Week one — keep it dry and boring
Most early losses are chill, drown, or pasty butt — not mystery disease. Clean water and dry litter beat supplements.
Brooder · day 7
Drop heat about 5°F (week 2)
The usual lamp schedule is 95°F week one, then about five degrees cooler each week. Let the chicks vote with their feet.
Brooder · day 14
More space, 85°F (week 3)
Feather quills show on wings first. They still cannot thermoregulate. Expand the brooder before you think they need it.
Brooder · day 21
80°F and real feathers (week 4)
They look like birds and still think like chicks. Heat stays until they are fully feathered, not just cute.
Grow-out · day 35
First outdoor time — not with the hens (week 5–6)
A secure tractor or covered pen on grass is a gift if the weather is mild. The laying flock still does not get a vote.
Grow-out · day 42
Wean heat and move to a grow-out pen (week 6–7)
Fully feathered birds in settled 70°F weather can leave the plate. They still need their own housing — a grow-out pen — not the main roost.
Meet the flock · day 49
Start see-but-don't-touch beside the run (week 7–8)
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that prevents blood. Park the grow-out pen against the run for at least a week, preferably two.
Meet the flock · day 63
Size check — delay if they still look like lunch
Eight weeks is the earliest many keepers try. With established adult hens, closer to 12–16 weeks — or until pullets are roughly two-thirds the hens' size — is calmer.
Meet the flock · day 70
First shared night — lights out, onto the roost
Chickens are calmer at dusk. After a clean size check and a week-plus of looking through wire, set the pullets on the roost after the hens have settled.
Meet the flock · day 77
Supervised daytime mixing
If the first nights held, give them shared daylight with you nearby. Scatter scratch so heads stay down.
Integrated · day 91
Call it one flock — keep watching
Around 13 weeks from a feed-store chick, many mixed groups can live together if size and the dusk intro went well. The order will still shuffle.
Integrated · day 112
Hold layer feed until the first eggs
Pullets usually start laying around 16–22 weeks, not at integration. Stay on grower until you see the first eggs, then switch the whole flock's ration with a plan.
Not a substitute for veterinary or extension-office advice. Flock behavior varies — separate at the first sign of blood.