Hej!
After my mysterious mishaps with home-hatched chicks (see my other post from a month ago), my mother hen has happily adopted my bought day-old chicks and they are now big and feathered (they are Brahma chicks and the mother hen is a Dwarf hen, so they are almost as big as her now!) and old enough to join the flock. They have been living side-by-side for a while and it seemed ok, but the two times I tried to let them all together (with lots of space, mind you), failed magnificently: The mother hen is viciously protective and attacks anyone coming close which resulted in a lot of fightings and the normally so gentle rooster will attack her, try to mate - everything at a great loss of neckfeathers all around...
Does anyone know a good trick of how I can re-integrate them? I asked my neighbours, but their hens are all very docile and they had no trouble letting them run with the flock after having them side-by-side for a few days. Should I just let them do their thing and establish a pecking order? I'm worried they might injure each other...
Thanks in advance for the help!!
/Luise
After my mysterious mishaps with home-hatched chicks (see my other post from a month ago), my mother hen has happily adopted my bought day-old chicks and they are now big and feathered (they are Brahma chicks and the mother hen is a Dwarf hen, so they are almost as big as her now!) and old enough to join the flock. They have been living side-by-side for a while and it seemed ok, but the two times I tried to let them all together (with lots of space, mind you), failed magnificently: The mother hen is viciously protective and attacks anyone coming close which resulted in a lot of fightings and the normally so gentle rooster will attack her, try to mate - everything at a great loss of neckfeathers all around...
Does anyone know a good trick of how I can re-integrate them? I asked my neighbours, but their hens are all very docile and they had no trouble letting them run with the flock after having them side-by-side for a few days. Should I just let them do their thing and establish a pecking order? I'm worried they might injure each other...
Thanks in advance for the help!!
/Luise
