If they're already hostile, you might not be able to integrate them while the chicks are still small. I would try again at about 8 weeks when they are bigger and can fend for themselves a bit. At that age, the hen will be less concerned with them as well.
Some roosters will do an excellent job at keeping the peace in their flock, seems like that's what happened in yours.
If you can't see the pecking order and everyone gets along? That's the chicken-keeping dream right there.
Best wishes!
I swear by 1/2 of a baby aspirin daily for a few days to magically make minor injuries go away. If it doesn't work, then you know you have something more serious, but plenty of times if there's nothing visually wrong they just pulled something funny and the aspirin will fix them up in a few...
That place in the coop door where you think that there's NO POSSIBLE WAY those chickens could get at the insulation? When there's a will....
Don't use foam insulation anywhere they could even think of getting.
Chickens love woods. Who else loves the woods? Every animal on earth that eats...
He's probably trying to crow! I've had plenty of roosters, and we've heard everything from a classic cock-a-doodle-doo, to whistles, to a strangled-sounding shriek they never grew out of.
Sometimes their skills improve as they get older. Sometimes not. Either way, good luck with your little roo!
Luckily, your chicks are young, and you don't really have to decide anything for awhile.
When I had too many roosters a few years ago, we decided to wait until we knew which ones were aggressive so we could keep the nicest one. Well, it turned out we kept the fastest one instead, because I...
They could be pencilled or some other pattern, but there also can be some normal color variation with hatchery stock. I have a few barred hens that are much lighter or darker than the others.
Best wishes!
Obviously, collect them as soon as possible after they are laid and refrigerate them if you need to, but that's just common sense.
Something I never really thought about until it became a problem is to never eat eggs that are found in the run, pasture, a nest in the woods, whatever, even if...
I could be some kind of deficiency, but I wouldn't jump right to that if your other birds are fine.
I'm certainly not a vet, but if she was still otherwise acting normally besides the limp I'd try giving her 1/2 of a baby aspirin daily for a few days. If it's minor, it should fix itself, and if...
It's toxic, but I swear by Zodiac flea and tick dog shampoo. I've never had a super-severe infestation, but if you scrub your coop with that, you'll be scraping dead mites off the wall tomorrow.
I've bathed chickens in very small amounts of it too with the same result. Hordes of dead mites...
I have about 4 piles in the woods out of the way on my property. I have a (very approximate) system where I add to one pile every time I clean the coop for maybe six months and then switch. It's all the bedding from an 8x8 or 9x9 coop for 18 chickens. There might be some rabbit bedding mixed in...