25 From Welp

[3KillerBs]

And now, very bad individual shots of indignant chicks held in awkward positions -- because I didn't have an assistant to do the photography. They're 4 weeks old and getting quite sizable.

 

[3KillerBs]

The adults were very curious about the chicks in the pen even though they'd been seeing them through the wire at a distance since week 2 and been around the brooder for a week.

It's hard to see through the mesh, but I was sitting on the other side of the pen watching to make sure nothing untoward happened and realized that, as the babies were settling down to rest, Ludwig had settled down next to the pen and they were sitting close to him.

 

[Sally PB]

Good for Ludwig!

I gotta love a roo who could have been named after Beethoven...

 

[3KillerBs]

Good for Ludwig!

I gotta love a roo who could have been named after Beethoven...

He's 22 weeks and hasn't hit his hormonal stage yet.

He tries very hard to crow (sounds like Tarzan), but I haven't seen him try to mate.

 

[3KillerBs]

Silly babies. I made them a nice sheltered corner in the back of the pen. The most protected place in the entire coop. They piled into the point where there isn't enough room and some could have been smothered.

I had to pull off that section of roof and toss them into the coop section. Where they are still insisting on being hard against the door mesh instead of in their protected corner.

 

[3KillerBs]

They went to bed last night in a better place. Still not in the sheltered corner, but at least not piled dangerously into the point.

I didn't *deliberately* run the waterer dry this morning, but when I got out there it was empty. So, since I'd had a training nipple waterer in the brooder and thought they'd drank from it a little, I put a 2-3 gallon nipple waterer in to see what would happen.

No more disgusting, filthy open waterers!

Tuesday or Thursday I'll set up some safe zones and let them into the coop itself.

 

[3KillerBs]

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough hands to juggle everything so as to take photos, but I worked on the integration process with one of the tactics I learned from experts here.

I made a treat -- a nice mash made from scratch, all-flock, and unsalted meat drippings that weren't going to end up as gravy and needed to be either used or trashed. I defatted and melted the meat-gelatin (plenty of protein in it), and mixed it up with the other stuff.

I scattered some good blops of the mix inside and outside the chicks' pen then set the remaining mash in the dish just across the wire from the chicks' feeder.

The theory being that they get accustomed to sharing food and eating together as a flock.

 

[3KillerBs]

Today we begin mixing with the big girls.

 

[3KillerBs]

That post was yesterday -- it didn't post properly, probably due to internet glitches we've been having.

Here are some photos from today:

 

[3KillerBs]

Day three of their ability to interact with the rest of the flock. I have no evidence that any of them have left the coop to go into the pen, but tonight a sizeable group have decided to sleep on top of the playpen -- near but not quite next to the less dominant POLs (and Ludwig) -- while the other half are "downstairs".