I have a flock of 18 hens and 1 rooster. One of the hens, a 1 1/2 year old Buff Orpington seems to be really afraid of the rooster, also a 1 1/2 year old Buff Orpington. At first I thought she was just the bottom of the pecking order and afraid of all the other chickens. She would remain...
Thanks to all for guiding me through the successful adoption and integration into the flock. I'm happy to report that at about a week and a half in all is going great. Mamma and babies still stay pretty close to the coop and run when the others are out free ranging but seem to venture a bit...
Thank you for the advice. Mama and babies are now setup in their own mini-coop and run inside the regular run. The adults go out and free range during the day but are in and out of the run/coop all day. After initial great interest in mama and babies they quickly went back to business as...
Thank you again for your advice! Looks like a successful adoption! Mama is cooing, babies are peeping and going in and out from under her to eat and drink. So far I haven’t seen mama come out of the nesting box but she is alert and watching them.
I’ll continue to keep a close eye on them but...
Thank you great advise. I wasn't thinking about how much time they would not have access to food and water if she accepts them. Do you think I should put the brooder out of earshot from her so she doesn't hear their peeping or might it be good for her to hear them?
Most of my flock are Buff Orpingtons as is my only rooster. I want to diversify my flock and have an order of 6 chicks scheduled to arrive from the hatchery tomorrow morning. My intent was to put them in a brooder but since I put in the order in I now have a broody hen. I think she has been...
I have one Whiting True Blue hen 9 1/2 months old. She started laying at around 6 months and went strong, at least 5 eggs a week, then about 6 weeks ago completley stopped laying. She seems healthy and is very active, definitely not molting or broody. I am getting plenty of eggs from my other...
The chickens have a pretty good size free range area, and when the coast is clear the trio will occasionally venture out and they always stick together. So it’s nice at least they have each other.
Thanks for the ideas, I’ll give it a try. I see your Point about simple things that will keep them out of sight. When I first put them together they were small enough that I had a couple places where they could get under that the other chickens couldn’t. But now they’re as big as everyone else...
This is my second year with chickens. In the spring I had a Buff Orpington hen that hatched out a brood, 5 hens that I have kept. I also wanted to diversify my flock so I got 3 Bielifelders and 3 True Blues. They are two weeks younger than the Oprpingotn chicks. Unfortunately I lost one of the...
Update, the chickens have been free ranging again for about two weeks, with access to their normal food as before. Definitely slightly smaller eggs not significant but noticeable. And not all the eggs.
Thanks for the confirmation. After a few days it felt like more than coincidence to me. Once the fence is done I’ll go back to free ranging, the benefits of them eating less feed and having more freedom outweighs the slightly larger eggs. The egg size I have been getting has always varied...
So is this a thing or just a coincidence?
For the last week and a half I have been re-fencing the area where my chickens free range, buff Orpington‘s. So they have been spending all their time in the coop and run and not foraging and only eating feed and treats that I give them. It looks to me...
I integrated my 12 and 14 week old chicks into the main flock and coop a couple of weeks ago but they are not yet sleeping and roosting in the coop. My run is predator proof and has a roof, so they are protected from the weather. I have a ladder and several roosting bars out in the run to...
Now that all my chicks And hens seem to be living happily together is it OK for them all to eat the adult food? I’ve had multiple feeders with both chick starter and adult food available but the hens seem to eat much of the chick starter.