Integrating mature birds with 7 week old chicks - Page 2

Look at what we got! 2 hens, 2 roosters. Easy to tell the pecking order in this group. The hen that is not in the photo...you guessed it, is at the bottom of the chain, hehe.

The rooster on the left is like twice the size as the other one...quite intimidating when it's your first time around mature birds! Althought they've been pretty docile when it comes to picking them up, etc. so no complaints up to now 

Yeah from the same flock but not the same hatch. The big rooster is potentially mixed with another breed? Regardless, the two rooster don't have to fight for pecking order since it's so obvious who the top one is, haha. They seem to be good tempered birds anyway 

And this morning we check on them...and we got our first egg! We are new to having chicken, so it's been an exciting morning, hehe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadHens 

Beautiful egg! Never thought I'd say something like that before my fascination with backyard chickens! We are getting our first batch of chicks sent to us this week! Can you tell I'm excited?!!

Well we started with chicks 6 chicks, 5 weeks ago...now I have 12 chicks and 4 mature birds...it's hard to not get chicken fever, lol. And then to find an egg this morning...that's pretty awesome! Oh I'm hooked now. 

Can't wait for my young pullets to start laying now  (still a few months away for those, hehe)

We got our girls to paint the ''nursery'' 

So I wanted to update and say that althought we keep our mature birds and are chicks separated in the coop, we let them range together all day, and we've had no problem. If anything it's better to have the adults around. The mature hens were a bit nasty at first, just letting them know they were the top hens. But the rooster protect the chicks when they're outside. How awesome are roosters! They make certain noises when they think there's danger and the chicks run in the coop! Haha, it's my first year with chicken so all these things are so awesome to discover. 

I also got a d'uccle bantam rooster and he sleeps with the chicks (I didn't want an extra rooster the mess up the rooster-hen ration that seems to be working), and he just loves having chicken his own size around him. He did peck at them a bit, but again, just to make sure he's top rooster and now everyone gets along 

Chicken are so interesting!

Quote:

Originally Posted by what did I do 


Do I see an incubator in your future?

 Is it that obvious?! Oh yeah we've been talking about getting an incubator and - or letting a hen be a momma if we get a broody one when our chicks grow up. For now we're enjoying the fresh eggs for breakfast!